332 
BLACK-HEADED VULTURE. 
true, that they often assemble in large flocks but the present birds are much more locally 
distributed than the Turkey Buzzards. Thus, although they are particularly abundant in 
certain localities in the Carolinas, Georgia, Northern, Middle, and Western Florida, I never 
saw a specimen on the Keys, at Miami, nor in the Everglades. They were very rare in 
the neighborhood of Dummett’s grove near Cape Canaveral although they were common 
at Salt Lake, only a few miles distant. 
In flight, the Black-heads move quite heavily, with alternate flapping and sailing, 
but they soar at a great height, like the Red-lieads, during the warm hours of the day; 
yet they do not,appear to spend much time in air, being sluggish, often sitting with ex¬ 
tended wings like the Turkey Buzzards. The Black-heads are more emphatically carrion 
feeders than the latter described species and will seldom eat fresh meat but prefer to wait 
until decomposition has set in before beginning their feast. Thus I have frequently seen 
the Turkey Buzzards gather around the freshly skinned carcass of an alligator, and eagerly 
devour the flesh, while the Black-heads would wait until it had lain for a day or two in 
the broiling sun before they would attack it; then, when the odor from the decaying mass 
became insufferable to human nostrils, they would eat to repletion. It is probable that the 
soft stomach with which this species is provided, digests this kind of food more readily 
than any other. They not only eat decomposed meat but feed upon animal excrement and 
various kinds of offal. In consequence of feeding so much on this highly seasoned food, 
these Vultures have a decidedly disagreeable odor which is noticeable in skins and mount¬ 
ed specimens, even after the lapse of years. It is possible, however, that this scent partly 
originates with the birds as the young smell strongly of musk. 
The Black-heads are more gregarious than the Red-heads, insomuch so, that I do not 
ever remember having seen a single specimen or even a pair unaccompanied by others, al¬ 
though I have often observed solitary individuals of the latter named species. Both Vul¬ 
tures become remarkably tame when not molested and I have frequently walked within a 
few feet of them when they have been feeding. As might be judged by the structure of 
the larynx, neither species are capable of uttering any thing in the way of sound more mu¬ 
sical than a hiss or grunt. 
The Black-heads breed quite early in Florida, for the eggs in the ovaries of some spec¬ 
imens killed about the middle of June, indicated that they would soon have been deposited. 
These Vultures choose dark swamps as breeding grounds, often nesting in communities, 
and there was, a few years ago, a large rookery of this description near Lake Worth in 
Southern Florida. 
ORDER XI. COLDMBAE. PIGEONS. ETC. 
Posterior margin of sternum , rounded. Outer marginal indentations , deeper than inner. 
Furcula, without any prominent terminal expansion. Naked space above nostrils , soft. 
Although the members of the present order resemble those of the succeeding in form, 
they all differ from them in some important anatomical structures. The sternum is short, 
