CATHARTES AURA. 
dirty white, or pale cream colour, splashed all over with 
chocolate, mingled with blackish touches, the blotches 
largest and thickest towards the great end; the form 
something like the egg of a goose, but blunter at the 
small end : length two inches and three quarters, breadth 
two inches. The male watches often while the female is 
sitting ; and, if not disturbed, they will occupy the same 
breeding place for several years. The young are clothed 
with a whitish down, similar to that which covers young 
goslings. If any person approach the nest, and attempt 
to handle them, they will immediately vomit such offen- 
sive matter, as to compel the intruder to a precipitate 
retreat. 
The turkey buzzards are gregarious, peaceable and 
harmless ; never offering any violence to a living animal, 
or, like the plunderers of the falco tribe, depriving the 
husbandman of his stock. Hence, though, in conse- 
quence of their filthy habits, they are not beloved, yet 
they are respected for their usefulness ; and in the 
southern states, where they are most needed, they, as 
w r ell as the black vultures, are protected by a law, which 
imposes a fine on those who wilfully deprive them of life. 
They generally roost in flocks, on the limbs of large 
trees ; and they may be seen on a summer morning, 
spreading out tlieir wings to the rising sun, and remain- 
ing in that posture for a considerable time. Pennant 
conjectures, that this is “ to purify their bodies, w r hich 
are most offensively fetid.” But is it reasonable to 
suppose, that that effluvia can be offensive to them, 
which arises from food perfectly adapted to their nature, 
and which is constantly the object of their desires ? 
Many birds, and particularly those of the granivorous 
kind, have a similar habit, w hich doubtless is attended 
with the same exhilarating effects, as an exposure to the 
pure air of the morning has on the frame of one just risen 
from repose. 
These birds, unless wdien rising from the earth, seldom 
flap their w ings, but sweep along in ogees, and dipping 
and rising lines, and move w ith great rapidity. Thej^ 
are^ often seen in companies, soaring at an immense 
