_Vultur californianus_, SHAW, Nat. Misc. IV, pl. ccci, 1797; Zoöl.
VII, 10, 1809.—LATH. Syn. Supp. II, 3, 1802; Ind. Orn. Supp. 2; Gen.
Hist. I, 7.—JAMES. (WILS.) Am. Orn. IV, 259, 1831.—DOUGL. Zoöl. Journ.
IV, 328; Isis, 1831, 110.—REICH. Prakt. Nat. Vög. p. 18. _Cathartes
californianus_, CUV. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 316, 1829.—BONAPARTE, Ann.
Lyc. N. Y. II, 221; Isis, 1832, 1135; List, 1; Consp. Av. 9.—SWAINS.
Classif. B. II, 206, 1837.—RANZ. Elem. di Zool. III, 23.—GRAY, Gen.
B. sp. 3, pl. ii.—DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 3, 1844.—NUTT. Man. I, 39,
1833.—AUD. Birds Am. pl. ccccxxvi, 1831; Orn. Biog. V, 240; Synop. p.
2, 1839.—BREW. (WILS.) Synop. p. 832, 1852.—PEALE, U. S. Expl. Exp.
VIII, 58.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 3, 1855.—KAUP, Thierr. p. 229.—CASSIN,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 5.—HEERM. P. R. R. Rept. II, 29, 1855.—NEWB.
P. R. R. Rept. VI, 73, 1857.—COOP. & SUCK. XII, ii, 141, 1860.—COUES,
Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 6, 1866.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 3, 1869.—TAYLOR,
Hutchins’s Cala. Mag. III, 1859, 537 (fig. of egg and young).—GURNEY,
Cat. Rapt. B. 1864, 39.—SCLAT. P. Z. S. 1866, 366 (with fig. from
life); 1868, 183 (fig. of young from life, same specimen).—COUES, Key,
1872, 222. _Catharista californianus_, GRAY, List B. Brit. Mus. p. 4,
1844. _Sarcorhamphus californicus_, STEPH. Zoöl. XIII, 6, 1815.—VIG.
Zoöl. Journ. II, 375.—RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II, 1, 1831.—LICHT.
Orn. Calif. p. 8, pl. i. _Cathartes vulturinus_, TEMM. Pl. Col. 31,
1820.—LESS. Man. Orn. VII, 10, 1828.
SP. CHAR. Wing, 30.00–35.00; tail, 15.00–18.00; culmen, about 1.50;
length of head, 6.50–7.00; tarsus, about 4.50–5.00; middle toe,
4.00–4.50; outer, 3.10; inner, 3.60; posterior, 1.10; middle claw
(longest), 1.50; posterior (shortest), 1.90. Total length, .45–.50;
extent of wings, about 9 or 10 feet.
_Adult._ Bill yellowish white; naked skin of the head and neck orange
and red; iris carmine (authors). General plumage dull black, the upper
surface with a faint bluish lustre, the feathers (excepting the primary
coverts, secondary coverts, and remiges) passing into dull brownish on
their margins, producing a squamate appearance. Scapulars and (more
appreciably) the secondaries and their coverts with a hoary grayish
cast, the latter white for most of their exposed portions (producing a
band across the wing), the white following the edges of the secondaries
nearly to their ends; primaries and tail-feathers, with their shafts,
uniform deep black. Whole lining of the wing (except the outer border)
and axillars pure white. Lower parts continuous dull carbonaceous-black,
the tips of the penicillate feathers with a hoary or chalky tinge. (No.
41,649, Monterey, California; Dr. C. A. Canfield. Wing, 32.00; tail,
15.00; culmen, 1.50; depth of bill, 1.20; length of head, 7.00; cere, on
top, 2.90; point of bill to anterior end of nostril, 2.50; tarsus, 5.00;
middle toe, 4.20.)
_Young._ Bill dusky; naked skin of the head and neck dusky, and more or
less covered with soft, grayish down. Plumage duller black, with the
white wholly absent. (No. 41,707, Monterey; C. A. Canfield. Measurements
as in the last.)
Localities: Fort Yuma (COUES, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. 1866, 42).
HAB. Pacific Coast region from mouth of the Colorado to the Columbia?
Southern Utah (HENSHAW).
HABITS. This large Vulture, so far as is known, is restricted to the
area on the Pacific Coast from the Columbia River to the Colorado,
and extending as far to the east as the Sierra Nevada. None are known
to have been taken in Mexico, and it very rarely goes north of the
Columbia. It is said to be most common in the hot interior valleys of
California, where are large herds of cattle, upon which it, to a large
extent, depends for its food. Dr. Cooper saw none on the Colorado,
and met with none east of the San Bernardino Mountains. Even at Fort
Mohave the cattle killed during the five months he resided there did not
attract one of these Vultures.
Dr. Cooper did not see these birds in any number along the sea-coast,
and has noticed none on the islands or in the highest Sierra Nevada.
Yet they are said, when other food is scarce, to feed on dead seals and
whales; but this fact he has never witnessed.
Dr. Newberry states that it was to him a pleasant portion of every day’s
experience, in his march through the Sacramento Valley, to watch the
graceful evolutions of this Vulture. In its colors the combination was
a pleasing one, while its flight was easy and effortless beyond that of
any other bird. Though a common bird in California, he found it much
more shy and difficult to shoot than its associate, the Turkey-Buzzard;
and it was never seen in such numbers or exhibiting such familiarity
as the smaller species which swarm, and are such efficient scavengers,
in our southern cities. After his party left the Sacramento Valley, he
saw very few in the Klamath Basin, and met with none within the limits
of Oregon. It is occasionally found there, but much more rarely than in
California.
Dr. Newberry states that a fine specimen presented to Dr. Sterling on
his return to San Francisco ate freely of the meat given him, and was
for some time kept alive. It was, however, impatient of confinement,
and succeeded in tearing the cord that confined him from his legs, and
in making his escape. Dr. Cooper also saw one of these Vultures in
confinement, at Monterey, in the possession of Dr. Canfield. This was
a full-grown individual which he had raised from the nest. It had been
fed exclusively on fresh meat, had no offensive smell, and was clean
and shining. It was gentle and familiar, but seemed stupid, and dozed
most of the time on a fence. This was subsequently presented to the
Zoölogical Society of London, and formed the subject of our figure. The
figure of the young bird on the next page is taken from a photograph of
the same specimen at an early age.
[Illustration: _Pseudogryphus californianus._]
Dr. Heermann, in his Report on Lieutenant Williamson’s Survey, mentions
having observed this Vulture sailing majestically in wide circles at a
great height, and ranging by its powers of flight over an immense space
of country in search of food. Often when hunting in the Tejon Valley,
if unsuccessful, they would be several hours without seeing one of this
species; but as soon as they succeeded in bringing down any large game,
these birds would be seen rising above the horizon before the body
had grown cold, and slowly sweeping towards them, intent upon their
share of the game. In the absence of the hunter, unless well protected,
these marauders will be sure to drag out from its concealment the slain
animal, even though carefully covered with branches. Dr. Heermann states
that he has known them to drag out and devour a deer within an hour.
This Vulture possesses immense muscular power. Dr. Heermann has known
four of them to drag the body of a young grizzly bear, that weighed over
a hundred pounds, the distance of two hundred yards. Dr. Cooper states
that it visits the Columbia River in autumn, when its shores are lined
with great numbers of dead salmon, on which, in company with other birds
and various animals, it feasts for a couple of months. He considered
it, however, only a visitor at certain seasons, and not a resident even
through the summer. He did not see it, nor did he hear of its presence
at Puget Sound.
[Illustration: _Pseudogryphus californianus._]
It is stated by Douglas that these Vultures will in no instance attack
any living animal unless it be so severely wounded as to be unable
to walk. Their senses of sight and smell are very acute, especially
the former; and when searching for prey they soar to a very great
height, and if they chance to discover a wounded animal they immediately
follow and attack it whenever it sinks down. The first comers are soon
followed by others, and it is not long before the carcass is reduced
to a skeleton. After thus feeding, they remain for a while sluggish
and reluctant to move. At these times they perch on dead trees, with
their heads drawn down, and their wings drooping over their feet.
Except after feeding, or when protecting their nests, they are said to
be very wary, and are with great difficulty shot by the hunter. Their
flight is described as slow, steady, and graceful, and they glide along
with little or no perceptible motion of the wings, the tips of which
are curved upward in flying, in the manner of the Turkey-Buzzard. They
are said to appear most numerous and to soar the highest preceding
thunder-storms and tempests.
Dr. Townsend states that in their walk they resemble a Turkey strutting
over the ground with great dignity, but are clumsy and awkward when they
endeavor to hasten their movements. When they attempt to rise from the
ground they always hop several yards, in order to give an impetus to
their heavy body. Dr. Cooper discredits the statement of Mr. Taylor,
that this Vulture has been known to kill and carry off a hare in its
claws. These are straight and weak, and not adapted for such uses.
Dr. Heermann states that a nest of this bird with young was discovered
in a thicket on the Tuolumne River. It was about eight feet back from
the entrance of a crevice in the rocks, completely surrounded and
masked by thick underbrush and trees, and composed of a few loose
sticks thrown negligently together. He found two other nests, of a like
construction and similarly situated, at the head of Merced River and in
the mountains. From the latter the Indians were in the habit of yearly
robbing the young, to kill at one of their festivals.
Mr. Alexander S. Taylor, of Monterey, published a series of papers
in a California journal relative to this Vulture. In one of these
he mentions that a Mexican _ranchero_, in hunting among the highest
peaks of the Santa Lucia range, disturbed two pairs of them from their
nesting-places, and brought away from one a young bird a few days old,
and from the other an egg. There was no nest, the eggs having been laid
in the hollow of a tall old robles-oak, in a steep _barranca_, near the
summit of one of the highest peaks. These birds are said by some hunters
to make no nest, but simply lay their eggs on the ground at the foot of
old trees or on the bare rocks of solitary peaks. Others affirm that
they sometimes lay their eggs in old nests of Eagles and Buzzards. Mr.
Taylor states that the egg weighed 10.50 ounces, the contents weighing
8.75. The egg was of a dead dull white color, the surface of the shell
slightly roughened. It was nearly a perfect ellipse in shape, and
measured 4.50 inches in length by 2.38 in diameter. The egg-shell held
nine fluid ounces of water. The young Vulture weighed ten ounces. His
skin was of an ocreous-yellow, covered with a fine down of a dull white.
Dr. Canfield informed Dr. Cooper that he has seen as many as one hundred
and fifty of these birds at one time and place in the vicinity of
antelopes he had killed, and noticed that they invariably sighted
their prey. They are often killed by feeding on animals that have been
poisoned with strychnine. They are not feared by the _rancheros_, yet
Dr. Canfield has known a number to attack a young calf, separate it from
its mother, and kill it. A _vaquero_ having killed a large grizzly bear,
left it on the plains near the sea-shore, to return to the house, about
three miles distant, for assistance. On his return, after an absence
of about two hours, a flock of these Vultures had cleaned the entire
carcass, leaving only the skin and the skeleton. This Vulture and the
Turkey-Buzzard often feed together over the same carcass, and generally
do some fighting together. Many of them nest in the high mountains east
and south of the Carmelo Valley, and also near Santa Cruz, as well as in
the Santa Lucia range, and are found there throughout the year, but in
greater numbers from July to November.
An egg of this species, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution
(9,983), from San Rafael, California, obtained by Dr. C. A. Canfield,
measures 4.40 inches in length by 2.50 in breadth. It is of an
elongate-oval shape, but is decidedly more pointed at the smaller than
at the larger end. In color it is of a uniform pale greenish-blue,
almost an ashy greenish-white, and without spots.