16 
TUKKEY-BUZZARD. 
on which Herons of different species also bred, their young supplying a 
plentiful store of food for those of the Vultures. The eggs, which never 
exceed two in number, measure two inches and seven-eighths in length, and 
one inch and seven and a half eighths in their greatest breadth. - 
The flight of the Turkey-Buzzard is graceful compared with that of the 
Black Vulture. It sails admirably either high or low, with its wings spread 
beyond the horizontal position, and their tips bent upward by the weight of 
the body. After rising from the ground, which it does at a single spring, it 
beats its wings only a very few times, to enable it to proceed in its usual 
way of sailing. Like the Black Vultures, they rise high in the air, and 
perform large circles, in company with those birds, the Fork-tailed Hawk, 
Mississippi Kite, and the two species of Crow. The Hawks, however, 
generally teaze them, and force them off toward the ground. 
They are gregarious, feed on all sorts of food, and suck the eggs and devour 
the young of many species of Heron and other birds. In the Floridas, I 
have, when shooting, been followed by some of them, to watch the spot 
where I might deposit my game, which, if not carefully covered, they would 
devour. They also eat birds of their own species, when they find them dead. 
They are more elegant in form than the Black Vultures, and walk well on 
the ground or the roofs of houses. They are daily seen in the streets of the 
southern cities, along with their relatives, and often roost with them on the 
same trees. They breed on the ground, or at the bottom of hollow trees 
and prostrate trunks, and lay only two eggs. These are large, of a light 
cream-colour, splashed toward the great end with large irregular markings 
of black and brown. The young somewhat resemble those of the Black 
Vulture, and take a long time before they can fly. Both species drink water 
freely, and in doing this immerse their bill to the base, and take a long 
draught at a time. They both breed at the same period, or nearly so, and 
raise only one brood in the season. 
I have found birds of this species apparently very old, with the upper 
parts of their mandibles, and the wrinkled skin around their eyes, so diseased 
as to render them scarcely able to feed amongst others, all of which seldom 
failed to take advantage of their infirmities. I have represented the adult 
male in full plumage, along with a young bird, procured in the autumn of its 
first year. The average weight of a full grown bird is 6£ lbs., about 1 lb. less 
than that of the Carrion Crow. 
Turkey- Vulture or Turkey-Buzzard, Vultur Aura, Wils., vol. ix. p. 96. 
Cathartes Aura, Bonap. Syn., p. 22. 
Cathartes Aura, Turkey-Vulture, Rich. & Swains. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 4. 
Turkey-Vulture or Turkey-Buzzard, Nuttall, Man., vol. ii. p. 43. 
Turkey-Buzzard, Cathartes Aura , Aud., vol. ii. p. 296; vol. v. p. 339, 
