CALIFORNIA VULTURE—Family Cathartidse. 
324. Gymnogyps calif or nianus. 50 inches. 
The largest of the Vultures, with an extent of about ten 
feet, and weighing twenty pounds or more. Its plumage is 
blackish, with lengthened lanceolate feathers about the neck. 
Head and neck without feathers and of an orange color. Wing 
coverts grayish, tipped with white in adult birds. The birds 
are very rare in their restricted range, and becoming more 
so each year, owing to their being shot and the nests robbed. 
While the eggs are but rarely found, and obtained at great 
risk, they are not as unobtainable as many suppose. 
Nest.— They lay but a single egg, placing it generally in 
caves or recesses of the rocks in the face of cliffs, hundreds 
of feet from the ground; ashy gray in color (4.45x 2.55). 
TURKEY VULTURE. 
325. Cathartes aura septentrionalis. 30 inches. 
The plumage of this bird is darkish brown, the naked head 
being red. It is very common in the southern and central 
portion of its range, where it may be seen about the streets 
and dooryards picking up any refuse that may be edible. 
It is a graceful bird upon the wing, and can readily be 
identified at a distance by the upturned ends of the wings. 
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