Generally their food consists of all kinds of animal matter. They are often accused of sucking eggs, and also of eating the young of herons, as well as those of other birds. In Trinidad, they are said to live on friendly terms with the poultry. As no breach of faith has been reported to have occurred in this instance, it is not likely that they would molest in any way our smaller birds, at least we are not cognizant of any such cases of interference from our own observation, nor do we find them in the recorded experiences of friends. They are worse-disposed, it seems to us, to their own kith. When several are feeding together, most violent wrangles occur over the booty. Each strives to get the lion’s share. It is amusing to witness their manœuvres. Some luckless fellow has just discovered a choice and racy bit, which he is endeavoring to make off with in a somewhat hurried manner, when instantly he is beset by a near companion, who has scarcely swallowed his own morsel. A conflict ensues. The latter, being the stronger, succeeds after a little in defrauding the other of his rightful property. When gorged, these birds are stupid and indisposed to exertion, the period of digestion ordinarily being passed in a motionless, listless attitude, with half-opened wings.
Recovered from their semi-stupid condition, they do not at once go to feeding again, but spend a long time in the healthful exercise of their volant appendages. Few birds are more graceful, easy and dignified while on the wing. On the ground they may seem awkward, but it is while soaring at a great height above the earth that they are seen in all their glory. When prepared for lofty flights, they spring from the ground with a single bound, and, after a few quick flappings of wings, move heavenward. Attaining a great elevation, they cleave the ether in ever-widening circles, or sail on nearly horizontal wings, the tips being slightly raised, with steady, uniform motion. These aerial diversions, for such they seem to be, are never performed singly, but in small parties of a dozen or more, being more common in early spring, and at the close of the breeding-season, than at any other time. It is to be observed further that these movements are executed in silence, the only sounds which the Buzzards are capable of producing being a kind of hiss, which has not inaptly been compared to the seething noise emitted by plunging a hot iron in a vessel of water.
When ready to breed these birds look about for a hollow tree, or some stump or log in a state of decay, either upon the ground, or slightly above it. Generally, there are no indications of a nest. In occasional instances a few rotten leaves, scratched into the hollow selected for the deposition of the eggs, constitute the nest, these treasures being laid without any previous care for their preservation and shelter being taken. In Southern New Jersey the nest has been inadvertently strayed upon in the midst of a deep and almost impenetrable morass, where it was found placed upon a hollow stump. Within the rocky caverns along the wide, shallow Susquehanna, as many as a dozen nests have been counted in a few hundred yards of space, often as early as the last week of March in favorable seasons, but generally not till the middle of April. When the winters are not extremely rigorous, a few individuals remain in the vicinity of their breeding-quarters throughout the entire year. We have found the birds breeding in Delaware County, Pa., towards the latter part of April or the beginning of May, but in Philadelphia they rarely do, if they breed at all. In Southern Ohio they are a common summer sojourner. Speaking of the birds in Jamaica, Mr. Gosse says they nest in depressions in the rocks and in the ledges thereof, in retired localities and also upon inaccessible cliffs. On Galveston Island Audubon found the birds nesting in great numbers, either under wide-spreading cactus branches or underneath low bushes in the midst of tall grasses in level saline marshes.
In the vicinity of Cheraw, S. C., Dr. C. Kollock met with the black vulture and our present species in swamps and dense forests, where they congregate in vast numbers throughout the entire year. These places are commonly designated Buzzards’ roosts. Audubon once visited one of these roosts in the vicinity of Charleston, which covered more than two acres of ground, and which was completely denuded of vegetation. On the banks of many of the rivers of Southern Texas, Mr. Dresser found them nesting in large numbers, the timber along their borders constituting comfortable and secure shelter; but, contrary to what has always been entertained, he affirms that they build large and bulky nests of sticks, which they place at great heights in an oak or cypress, close by the river-banks. Captain C. C. Abbott says that in the Falkland Islands the eggs are deposited in the midst of bushes beneath high banks, or on the summits of decayed balsam logs, during the early part of November. In certain localities, where the birds are not very common, paired individuals are not infrequently found.
Two eggs generally constitute a nest-full, although instances are known where but a single egg was deposited. On the Falkland Islands they are said to lay three occasionally. In the West Indies, especially in the Bahamas, the complement is the same as in the United States, and there does not seem to be any difference in the habits of the birds in the two places. Specimens from New Jersey, Texas, Florida and South Carolina are creamy-white in ground, and are variously marked with shades of brown, intermingled with splashes of lavender and purple, which are often so faint as to be perceptible only upon close examination. Brewer mentions a variety from near Cheraw, S. C., that was nearly pure white, and which showed but a few small red and slightly purplish lines and dots about the larger extremity. Recently we have met with some from Texas answering the same description. In dimensions these eggs vary but little, and have, on the average, a length of 2.78 inches, and a width of 2.00, or rather less.
Cathartes aura, as the Turkey Buzzard is known by the scientific naturalist, is far from being demonstrative in the expression of her feelings. When her home is assailed, she makes no ado, but quietly slips out, and seemingly contemplates its desecration with indifference.
Though manifesting a passive disposition in the face of human interference, yet she is not always the gentle being she would have us believe, as shown by the spirit of dominancy she displays over her own household.
Unlike many of her neighbors, she does not entirely assume the responsibilities of brood-raising, permitting her partner the happy enjoyment of a life of luxurious ease, but, believing in the doctrine of a proper division of labor, forces upon him his share of the work.
Whilst she thus appears unduly exacting towards him, she is equally so to her offspring. Few mothers know better than she the right training of their children, so as to fit them to become useful and respectable members of society.
This is no figment of the imagination, as will presently be seen. It was while exploring a section of Delaware County of this State for minerals in the summer of 1894 that some interesting facts were learned of the relation subsisting between her and the rest of her family.