146 
FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
of the vultures are modified from the hawk types. The bill is less 
sharply pointed and powerful, while the feet instead of having 
curved talons have an elongated middle toe well adapted to walking 
on the ground, or steadying the large body as the bird stands on the 
carrion it is devouring. 
When walking, the vultures often hold their wings out at their 
sides, harpy fashion ; and sometimes as they rise they fly so low over 
your head that you hear a loud puff, puff, puff, puff, as they flap past. 
While usually solitary or in scattered companies they gather 
quickly at a carcass, and at night often assemble in large flocks to 
roost in a favorite grove of cottonwoods. Mr. Evermann reports over 
a hundred roosting in a eucalyptus grove. 
GENUS CATHARISTA. 
326. Catharista urubu (Vieill .). Black Vulture. 
Head naked, but feathers of neck running up behind to a point on the 
back of the head ; nostrils narrow ; wings not folding to the end of the 
short, even, or emarginate tail. Adults : head bare , blackish, bill blackish, 
with yellowish or whitish tip; whole body dull black; wing quills with 
white shafts, and webbing on under side hoary whitish. Length: 23-27, 
extent about 54, wing 16.50-17.50, tail 7.50-8.50, bill .90-.95. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Lower Sonoran and Tropical zones from the 
Atlantic to western Texas, and from North Carolina, Indiana, and Kansas 
south over most of South America. Straggles to New England and South 
Dakota. 
Eggs. — Laid on the ground under bushes or logs, or on rocks ; 1 to 3, 
pale grayish green, irregularly marked around the larger end with brown 
and sometimes lavender. 
Food. — Carrion. 
Although the turkey buzzard and black vultures resemble each 
other in general, you can recognize the black vulture in the sky at 
a glance by the shortness of its square tail. You also come to dis¬ 
tinguish its flight, for while a turkey buzzard sails around smoothly 
on a level, the black vulture’s short wings and abbreviated tail often 
give its body a peculiar tilt and a bat-like effect of climbing up the 
air. In flying to the ground, its whitish under wing tips are a 
striking character. 
FAMILY FALCONIDiE: FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, 
ETC. 
KEY TO GENERA. 
1. Wing 17-21. 
2. Claws all the same length, rounded on under side. Fig * 21 ^‘ 
Pandion, p. 172. 
