Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/332



Having already, when speaking of the Black Vulture, described the habits of the Turkey Buzzard, I shall here merely add a few observations necessary to complete its history.

This species is far from being known throughout the United States, for it has never been seen farther eastward than the confines of New Jer- sey. None, I beUeve, have been observed in New York ; and on asking about it in Massachusetts and Maine, I found that, excepting those per- sons acquainted with our birds generally, none knew it. On my late northern journeys I nowhere saw it. A very few remain and spend the winter in New Jersey and Pennsylvannia, where I have seen them only during summer, and where they breed. As we proceed farther south, they become more and more abundant. They are equally attached to maritime districts, and the vicinity of the sea-shore, where they find abun- dance of food.

The flight of the Turkey Buzzard is graceful compared with that of the Black Vulture. It sails admirably either high or low, with its wings spread beyond the horizontal position, and their tips bent upward by the weight of the body. After rising from the ground, which it does at a single spring, it beats its wings only a very few times, to enable it to pro- ceed in its usual way of sailing. Like the Black Vultures, they rise high in the air, and perform large circles, in company with those birds, the Fork-tailed Hawk, Mississippi Kite, and the two species of Crow. The Hawks, however, generally teaze them, and force them off toward the ground.

They are gregarious, feed on all sorts of food, and suck the eggs and devour the young of many species of Heron and other birds. In the Floridas, I have, when shooting, been followed by some of them, to watch the spot where I might deposit my game, which, if not carefully covered, they would devour. They also eat birds of their own species, when they find them dead. They are more elegant in form than the Black Vultures, and walk well oh the ground or the roofs of houses. They are daily seen