BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
115 
Genus CATHARTES Illiger. 
Cathartes aura (Linn.). 
Turkey Vulture ; Turkey Buzzard. 
Description {Plate 67). 
Entire plumage brownish-black, and more or less glossy ; quills paler on under 
surface ; skin of head and neck naked wrinkled, with scattering bristle-like feath- 
ers ; head and neck red ; bill whitish ; legs and feet pinkish ; iris grayish-brown ; 
nostrils large and oval. 
Nestlings. — Bare skin of head nearly white ; body covered with white down. 
Length about 30 inches ; extent of wings about V2 inches ; wing about 25 ; tail 12 
inches. 
Habitat. — Temperate North America, from New Jersey, Ohio Valley, Saskatche- 
wan region and Washington Territory, southward toPatigonia, casually northward 
on the Atlantic coast to Maine. 
This species is found in some sections of Pennsylvania during- all 
seasons, but during the summer months is much more plentiful than at 
other times. The Turkey Buzzard usually rears its young in woods or 
thickets, mostly near streams of water. It makes little or no effort to 
construct a nest ; the eggs — never more than two in number, and occa- 
sionally only one — are deposited generally in a slight concavity in the 
ground protected by shelving or overhanging rocks. The eggs are yel- 
lowish white, spotted with different shades of brown and purple, and 
measure about 2f inches in length by nearly 2 inches in breadth. It is 
stated that this species sometimes breeds in Pennsylvania as early as 
the last week in March. I have found nine nests in Chester and Delaware 
counties during the past seven years ; of this number seven were taken 
late in April or early in May, and all contained fresh eggs. The two 
remaining nests, found in June, contained downy young. I am in- 
formed that these birds, in Lancaster and York counties, along the Sus- 
quehanna river, are annually to be found breeding in small communities 
of a dozen or twenty individuals. This bird will resort for several con- 
secutive seasons to a favorite nesting place, and occasionally when its 
eggs are taken will lay a second time in the same nest. The Turkey 
Yulture is very numerous in the southern states, where it resides all 
the year, but in the eastern United States, north of Pennsjdvania, it is 
said to be quite rare. Two young which I took from the nest and kept 
in captivity until full grown became exceedingly tame. These birds 
often when feeding, and invariably if approached by a stranger, would 
utter a loud hiss, the only sound which this species, as well as other of 
the American vultures, is known to make. They fed chiefly on fresh 
meat, and also devoured with apparent relish earth-worms, crickets, 
grasshoppers and other large insects ; oftentimes they also eat pieces 
of bread, cake and particles of apples or pears which were thrown be- 
fore them. The Turkey Buzzard, in its natural state, according to Au- 
