Generally, their food consists of all kinds of animal matter. They are often accused of egg-sucking, and also of eating the young of Herons, as well as those of other birds. In Trinidad they are said to live on the most 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 our friends. They are worse-disposed, it seems to us, to their own kith and kin. When several are together, the most violent wrangles occur over their booty. Each strives to get the lion's share. It is rather amusing to witness their manouvres. A fellow has just discovered a very choice bit, which he is endeavoring to make away with in a somewhat hurried manner, but before he has accomplished the task, he is soon beset by a near companion who has scarcely swallowed his morsel. A conflict ensues. The latter being the stronger, succeeds after a while in defrauding the other of his rightful property. When gorged, these birds appear stupid and indisposed to exertion, the period of digestion being ordinarily passed in a motionless, listless attitude, with half-spread wings.
Recovered from their semi-stupid condition, they do not at once go to feeding again, but pass 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 above the earth that they are seen in all their glory. When prepared for their lofty flights, they spring from the ground with a single bound, and, after a few quick flappings of the wings, move heavenward. Having attained a great elevation, they move through the ether in ever-widening circles, or sail on nearly horizontal wings, the tips above being slightly raised, with steady, uniform motion. These aerial diversions are never performed singly, but in small parties of a dozen or more, and are more common in early spring, and at the close of the breeding-period, than during the intervening time. It is also to be remarked that they are executed in silence, for the Turkey Buzzards, like their indigenous American relatives, are a mute species, the only sound of which they are capable, being a kind of hiss, which has not been inaptly compared to the seething noise emitted by plunging a hot iron in a vessel of water.
When ready to breed they look around for a hollow tree, or some stump or log in a state of decay, either upon the ground, or but slightly elevated above it. Generally, there are no indications of a nest. In occasional cases a few rotten leaves are scratched into the hollow selected for the deposition of the eggs, the latter being laid without any previous care having been taken for their preservation and shelter. In Southern New Jersey, we have sometimes strayed upon the nest in the midst of a deep and almost impenetrable morass, placed within an excavated stump. Within the rock-caverns along the wide, shallow Susquehanna, as many as a dozen nests have been observed in a few hundred yards of space, often as early as the last week of March, when the weather was favorable, but generally not till the middle of April. A few individuals have been known to remain in the vicinity of their breeding-quarters through the entire year, when the winters are not extremely rigorous. At Parkersburg, near the western boundary of Chester County, T. H. Jackson, of West Chester, Pa., has found it breeding; but within Philadelphia it rarely does, if at all. In Delaware County, paired individuals have been observed early in April under rather suspicious circumstances. In Southern Ohio it is a common summer sojourner. Mr. Gosse, in speaking of the birds in Jamaica, says that they nest in depressions in the rock, 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 widespread 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, as mentioned by Brewer, met with the Black and our present species as quite frequent denizens of the interior of swamps and dense forests, where they congregate in vast numbers during 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. 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, either upon the ground, or on the bare surface of a log. In certain localities, where the birds are not very common, paired individuals are frequently met with.
The eggs are generally two in number, although instances are known where but a single one is deposited. On the Falkland Islands they are said to lay three occasionally. In the West Indies, especially in the Bahama group, the nest-complement is the same as in the United States, and there does not seem to be any difference in the habits of the birds that abound in the latter country. Specimens from New Jersey, Texas, and South Carolina are creamy-white in ground, and are variously marked with divers shades of brown, intermingled with splashes of lavender and purple, which are often so faint as only to be perceptible upon close inspection. 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.
The duty of hatching falls not exclusively to either sex, but is shared by both. The time required to bring out the young is, under the most constant sitting, about twenty-two days. While occupied with family-matters the birds are seldom visited by strangers, and are allowed to rule in their own chosen realm with undisputed sway. Only the hardened collector has courage to enter their disgusting abodes, and rifle them of their treasures, a business not difficult of accomplishment, for the birds instantly vacate, and become silent watchers of the pillage. These birds do not seem to possess a particle of spirit, and are as cowardly as they are big. When captured they offer no active resistance, but very effectually warn off their aggressor, by disgorging the half-digested contents of their crop. When being killed they are perfectly passive and apathetic. Dr. Coues affirms that they will often simulate death when captured. On one occasion, an individual being shot, was picked up for dead. While being borne to his tent it was perfectly limp. Reaching his quarters, he carelessly threw it upon the ground, and went to work at something else. After a brief spell he looked around and beheld, to his surprise, that the bird had changed its position, and was furtively glaring around. On going to it, its eyes immediately closed, its body became relaxed, and it lay completely motionless, and apparently dead. After compressing its chest for several minutes, until he fancied life to be extinct, he dropped the bird, and repaired to supper. On returning, the bird had disappeared, it evidently having scrambled into the bushes as soon as his back was turned. This strategem is not new, and has been frequently observed by us, although unrecorded.
What they lack in courage they more than make up in the attention which they bestow upon their offspring. Like their parents, the latter are gluttonous feeders, and must be nourished at frequent intervals during the entire day. Their diet at first is the half-changed matter which is forced by the parents in their mouths. When they have been blessed with the use of their eyes, which occurs during the second week of their life, they are able to masticate small bits of meat that are brought to them, although the early method is still kept up until they are ready to hunt for themselves. This matter, together with that of an excrementitious character, which is found about the nest, renders the latter exceedingly offensive, and is hardly endurable to persons of weak nerves. But where numbers breed together the foulness of the resort is indescribable.
The young are covered at first with a whitish down; but as they increase in age, soon show traces of what they are to be, but of, the precise period when they attain the adult plumage, we are ignorant. When they quit the nest they appear with the bill and naked skin of the head and neck, of a livid blackish hue, and the back of the head and nape with more or less of whitish down. Their dress is more uniformly blackish, the brownish borders above being less distinct, and the reflections rather green than violaceous. Mature birds have the bill white, the feet flesh-colored, and the head red. The general plumage is blackish-brown, and the quills ashy-gray on their lower surfaces. The skin of the head presents a wrinkled aspect, and is sparingly invested with bristle-like feathers, the plumage proper commencing in a circle on the neck The nostrils are quite large and open, the iris umber, and the tail rounded. In length they measure about two and a half feet, and have an extent of nearly six. The tail is one foot long, and the wings two.
Notwithstanding their filthy habits, which render them obnoxious in the eyes of many persons, their harmless, peaceable natures should command for them respect from the lords of creation, even though they should not possess other claims to popular consideration. Like their nearest relations the plundering Buteos and Falcons—they offer no harm to their smaller brethren, nor detriment to the husbandman's stock of poultry. They are essentially a useful bird, and in the Southern States where their services are most in demand, both they and the Black Vulture are protected by law, a fine being imposed upon any who should wilfully destroy their lives. But in more northern sections they are persecuted with impunity. Hence their avoidance of the residence of man. As scavengers we recognize in them great benefactors, and when left in undisturbed possession of their freedom, they come in and go out among their human brethren, and seldom show the repulsive side of their character. In not endowing these birds with the same great force of character which she has lavished upon the Falcons, Nature has provided them with a means of defence, which is as serviceable to them as the powerful talons and bill of their courageous brethren.
Respecting the resident range of this species, as compared with its summer dispersions, it has not been observed to winter on the Atlantic seaboard beyond New Jersey, and is even more abundant here in summer than in the cold season. In Washington, where the bird is said to be quite common, no important diminution of its numbers has been noticed during several successive winters. In both the Carolinas the same condition of affairs is found to exist. Its winter range in the interior seems to be higher up, perhaps as far north as Minnesota, for it has been observed here late in October, and again in December, but the latter may have been an accidental occurrence. According to Dr. Coues, the isothermal line corresponding, on the Atlantic coast, with the fortieth parallel of latitude, may approximately indicate its farthest northern limit in the winter.