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Black Vulture
Also called: FORK-TAILED KITE; SNAKE HAWK.
Images coming soon.
Length.—About 24 inches. Wing spread over four feet.
Male and Female.—Dull black; under part of point of wings silvery gray; head, neck, and base of bill dusky; tip of bill and feet flesh colored or grayish; head and neck bare.
Range.—Common in South Atlantic and Gulf states, through Mexico to South America. Occasional in Western states. Rare north of Ohio.
Season.—Permanent resident.
Length.—About 24 inches, or according to development of tail. Wing spread about 4 feet.
Male and Female.—Head, neck, under parts, including wing linings, band across lower back, snow white; rest of plumage glossy black, showing violet and green reflections. Bill bluish black; feet and very short legs, light. Tail 14 inches long and cleft like a swallow's for half its length.
Range.—United States, especially in the interior, from Pennsylvania and the great plains southward to Central and South America. Casual in New England, Minnesota, Manitoba, and Assiniboia; nesting irregularly throughout its range; winters chiefly south of United States.
Season.—Summer resident. April to October.
With a heavier, more thickset body than the turkey buzzard's and shorter wings, this very common "carrion crow" may be identified in mid-air by its comparative lack of grace in flight, its frequent wing flapping, and its smaller size, which is more apparent than real, however, since its stocky build offsets its narrower wing-spread. Five or six quick, vigorous flaps of the wings send the bird sailing off horizontally; another series of wing flappings carries it up higher for another sail; but the flight is heavy and labored when compared with the majestic spiral floating of the buzzard, and it lacks the fascination that characterizes that other vulture's motion. Seen on the ground, the dusky head of the carrion crow is alone sufficient to differentiate it from the red-headed buzzard. It is also black instead of brown; and its tail is short and rounded.
A more southerly range and a decided preference for the sea-coast, and for the habitations of men, again distinguish it; but in nesting and other habits than those noted these two vultures are almost identical. From North Carolina southward, every city and village contains a horde of these dusky scavengers, walking about the streets as familiarly as chickens to pick up the scraps of food that so quickly become putrid in a warm climate; or, perched upon the chimney tops, drying and warming their grim, spectre-like bodies. Every market place is haunted by them more persistently than by the turkey buzzard; for the carrion crows will be walked on by the crowd rather than leave the refuse of the butcher's stalls. One bird in Charleston, S. C., has visited a certain butcher regularly for twenty years. While both species are cowards, it is the black vulture that invariably secures the tidbit in the refuse heap from under the very beak of the turkey buzzard that stands in ridiculous awe of its heavy weight. But it is only at feeding time that these two vultures associate. The black vulture is decidedly the more gregarious. A carcass of horse or hog will sometimes be entirely concealed under an animate mass of these sable scavengers, perhaps two hundred or more fiercely clawing at the loathsome food. They gave the final touch of horror to the scene after the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Santiago when the sailors were washed ashore, and to the battlefields where our own dead soldiers lay. One of the Rough Riders who had shown magnificent courage in the presence of the enemy, went into violent hysterics at the sight of the vultures hovering over his fallen friends in the underbrush about Baiquiri.
KITES, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC.
(Family Falconidoe)
Swallow-tailed Kite
(Elanoides forficatus)
Not excepting even the turkey vulture, the tern or the swallow, no bird moves through the sky with more exquisite grace and buoyancy than this beautiful black and white, sharp winged kite, whose motion combines the special fascinations of each of its three close rivals. Soaring upward, buzzard fashion, until it sometimes fades from sight, or floating like it on motionless pinions; now swooping with the dash of a tern and catching itself suddenly just above the earth to skim along the surface like a swallow; swaying its trim body with a cut of the wing and the lashing of its long forked tail, it pauses neither for rest nor food, but apparently spends every waking moment in the air. It is supposed it even sleeps while it floats, so little conscious effort is evident in its flight; and it feeds a-wing by tearing off bits of the snake, or other prey, firmly grasped in its small feet. This has been seized while passing and without pause. In this way too the bird takes a drink. Because they are so little used for walking, for one almost never sees this kite on the ground, its legs are very short and all but invisible.