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.
Having accidentally strayed upon a young ground hog which had but
recently been killed, the writer resolved to carry it home and place
it where it could be seen or scented by the Buzzards, so that he might
have an opportunity of making a more intimate acquaintance with these
birds than he had ever before been able to make.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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