Nest.—Is made of weeds and twigs, placing the flat, frail structure either in bushes or on the ground, in which are placed the two white eggs (.85 × .65).
Range.—Border of the United States, from Texas and southern California southward.
INCA DOVE.
321. Scardafella inca. 8 inches.
Tail is longer than preceding and more rounded, and the outer feathers are tipped with white. Head, neck and whole body of a pinkish gray; scaled as is the former. These are very tame, and are to be met with in the roads, barnyards, and seem to be almost domesticated in their habits, even feeding with the poultry about the farmhouse.
Nest.—These are rather more compactly made, of twigs, rootlets and weeds, and placed near the ground in low bushes; only two white eggs are laid (.85 × .65). Not as common as the previous.
CALIFORNIA VULTURE—Family Cathartidæ.
324. Gymnogyps californianus. 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.