. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . of about a dozen Turkey Buzzards, gather-ing there, had gorged themselves to repletion. Sluggishlythey stood on the moist ground, with drooping heads andwings, revelling in their satiety and in the warm note did they take of passing time, until suddenly fourmen came right upon them and forced them into unwillingflight. It was our party, who had spent most of the day exploringthe great cypress swamp with two special plans in was to see a nesting colony of the Wood
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . of about a dozen Turkey Buzzards, gather-ing there, had gorged themselves to repletion. Sluggishlythey stood on the moist ground, with drooping heads andwings, revelling in their satiety and in the warm note did they take of passing time, until suddenly fourmen came right upon them and forced them into unwillingflight. It was our party, who had spent most of the day exploringthe great cypress swamp with two special plans in was to see a nesting colony of the Wood Ibises in theimmense cypresses, which the guide had visited in previousseasons ; the other was to find a reputed buzzard crackers had called at our camp on the way to thecoast to sell some enormous rattlesnake skins, and, in describ-ing the region, had told us of a place in the great swamp,six or eight miles from here, which was a remarkable resortfor buzzards. Occasionally, in hunting, thev had passed it,and had seen large numbers of the buzzards sunning them- SCAVENGERS OF THE SOUTH 105. TURKEY BUZZARD. SUNNING ITSELF selves in the trees and on the ground. The whole place wasfilthy, and some of the trees had died. It is well known thatbuzzards habitually resort to certain localities as roosting-places. I myself had seen one, on a small scale, in the timberalong the Sheyenne River, in North Dakota, and one of myguides knew of another in the western part of that was among the rocks on the side of a steep, barren hill,and the Turkey Buzzards not only resorted there to roost,but some of them reared their young under the rocks. I should very much have liked to stumble upon this roost inJane Green Swamp. In the attempt to reach it we had poledand dragged a boat four weary miles over the treacherousmorass, stepping out now and then into aquatic vegetationwhich abounded in deadly moccasins, one of which wouldnow and then slip out fairly from under our feet. The
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