CHAPTER II. 
REPORT UPON THE BIRDS.* 
CATHARTES CALIFORNIANUS. 
Californian Vulture. 
A portion of every day’s experience in our marcli through the Sacramento valley was a 
pleasure in watching the graceful evolutions of this splendid bird. Its colors are pleasing ; the 
head orange, body black, with wings brown and white and black, while its flight is easy and 
effortless, almost beyond that of any other bird. As I sometimes recall the characteristic scenery 
of California, those interminable stretches of waving grain, with, here and there, between the 
rounded hills, orchard-like clumps of oak, a scene so solitary and yet so home-like, over these 
oat-covered plains and slopes, golden yellow in the sunshine, always floats the shadow of the 
vulture. 
This vulture, though common in California, is much more shy and difficult to shoot than its 
associate, the turkey buzzard, ((7. aura,) and is never seen in such numbers or exhibiting such 
familiarity as the two species, C. aura and C. atratus, the efficient scavengers which swarm in 
our southern cities. We had, however, on our first entrance into the field, many opportunities 
of shooting this bird, but were unwilling to burden ourselves with it. After we left the Sacra¬ 
mento valley, we saw very few in the Klamath basin, and none within the limits of Oregon. It 
is sometimes found there, but much more rarely than in California. In size, the Californian 
vulture is second only to the condor, attaining a length of four feet, and a stretch of wing of ten 
feet, or more. A fine specimen was presented to Dr. Sterling on his return to San Francisco, 
and was for some time kept alive. Pie succeeded, however, in tearing from his legs the cord 
which confined him, and escaped. He ate freely the meat given him, and was a magnificent bird. 
CATHARTES AURA. 
The Turkey Buzzard. 
As in all other parts of the United States, the turkey buzzard is found in California and 
Oregon. Not, perhaps, anywhere collected in as large numbers as are sometimes seen in the 
more southern of the eastern States ; the paucity of animal life being the probable cause of its 
rarity ; yet in the vicinity of the towns and about the great rivers it is quite common. 
In the Klamath basin it is more rare ; that dry and sterile region affording few attractions 
* As the final determination of the species of birds collected by the expedition has not yet been completed by Prof. Baird, 
the names here given are to be considered merely as temporary. In his general report upon the birds of the Pacific Railroad 
Surveys, hereafter to appear, the names and pages of the species in this article will all he carefully quoted, and any errors 
of determination thus rectified. 
10 BB 
