CALIFORNIAN VULTURE. 
18 
In a subsequent notice, he continues “ I have never seen the eggs of. 
the Californian Yulture. The Indians of the Columbia say that it breeds 
on the ground, fixing its nest in swamps under the pine forests, chiefly in 
the Alpine country. The Wallammet Mountains, seventy or eighty miles 
south of the Columbia, are said to be its favourite places of resort. I have 
never visited the mountains at that season, and therefore cannot speak 
from my own knowledge. It is seen on the Columbia only in summer, 
appearing about the first of June, and retiring, probably to the mountains, 
about the end of August. It is particularly attached to the vicinity 
of cascades and falls, being attracted by -the dead salmon which strew the 
shores in such places. The salmon, in their attempts to leap over the ob- 
struction, become exhausted, and are cast up on the beaches in great 
numbers. Thithex*, therefore, resort all the unclean birds of the country, 
such as the present species, the Turkey-Buzzard, and the Raven. The 
Californian Vulture cannot, however, be called a plentiful species, as even 
in the situations mentioned it is rare to see more than two or three at a 
time, and these so shy as not to allow an approach to within a hundred 
yards, unless by stratagem. Although I have frequently seen this bird I 
have never heard it utter any sound. The eggs I have never seen, nor 
have I had any account of them that I could depend upon. 
“ I have never heard of their attacking living animals. Their food while, 
on the Columbia is fish almost exclusively, as in the neighbourhood of the 
rapids and falls it is always in abundance; they also, like other Vultures, 
feed on dead animals. I once saw two near Fort Vancouver feeding- 
on the carcass of a pig that had died. I have not seen them at roost. In 
walking they resemble a Turkey, strutting over the ground with great 
dignity ; but this dignity is occasionally lost sight of, especially when two 
are striving to reach a dead fish, which has just been cast on the shore ; 
the stately walk then degenerates into a clumsy sort of hopping canter, 
which is anything but graceful. When about to rise, they always hop or 
run for several yards, in order to give an impetus to their heavy body, in 
this resembling the Condor of South America, whose well known habit 
furnishes the natives with an easy mode of capturing him by means of a 
narrow pen, in which a dead carcass has been deposited. If I should 
return to the Columbia, I will try this method of taking the Vulture, and 
I am satisfied that it would be successful.” 
Cathartes California xus, Aud'. Birds of Am., pi. 426 ; Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 240. 
Cathartes californianus, Bonap. Syn., p. 22. 
Californian Vulture, Nuttall, Man., vol. i. p. 39. 
The head and upper part of the neck are bare but the middle of the fore- 
