260 
VULTUR CALIFORNIANUS. 
parts of the pine forests, invariably selecting* the loftiest 
trees that overhang the precipices on the deepest and 
least accessible parts of the mountain valleys. The 
nest is large, composed of strong thorny twigs and 
grass, in every way similar to the nests of the eagle 
tribe, but more slovenly constructed. The same pair 
resort for several years to the same nest, bestowing 
little trouble or attention in repairing it. They lay 
two nearly spherical jet black eggs, about the size of 
those of a goose. They hatch generally about the 
first of June, and the period of incubation is twenty- 
nine or thirty-one days. The young are covered with 
thick whitish down, and are incapable of leaving the 
nest until the fifth or sixth week. Their food is car- 
rion, or dead fish : in no instance will they attack any 
living animal, unless it be wounded and unable to 
walk. Their senses of smelling and seeing are remark- 
ably keen. In searching for prey, they soar to a great 
altitude, and on discovering a wounded deer, or other 
animal, they follow its track until it sinks, when they 
descend precipitately on their object. Although only 
one bird may be at first in possession of the carcass, 
few r minutes elapse before the prey is surrounded by 
great numbers, and it is then devoured to a skeleton 
within an hour, even though it be one of the larger 
animals, — a stag, for instance, or a horse. Their voracity 
is almost insatiable ; and they are extremely unge- 
nerous, suffering no other animal to approach them 
while feeding. After eating, they become so sluggish 
and indolent as to remain in the same place until 
urged by hunger to go in quest of another repast. At 
such times they perch on decayed trees, with their 
heads so much retracted, as to be with difficulty 
observed through the long, loose, lanceolate feathers of 
the collar. The w ings, at the same time, hang down 
over the feet. This position they invariably preserve 
in dewy mornings, or after rains. Except after eating, 
or w hile guarding their nest, they are so excessively 
wary, that the hunter can scarcely ever approach suffi- 
ciently near even for buck-shot to take effect on them, 
