Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-03-11
6uzzARD AND WoopcHuc,ss
fennsylvanta Farmers Welcome the On.
and Dread the Other. ~

1ennsyivantA Farmers Welcome the Ops
and Dread the Other. ~
The slow sailing turkey buzzard
and the burrowing woodchuck are
creatures that haunt every Chester
county farm. The visitations of the
former are encouraged, those of the
later made subject for imprecation,
and meanwhile both increase and
multiply. Up in Bucks county, not
more than 80 miles distant from
Chester, the buzzard and the wood.
chuck are comparatively unknown,
and the farmer goes about his bust.
ness from one years end to the othe,
without a glimpse of either, SO hard
and fast are the lines which restrict
their habitats.
About two years ago n woodchuck
did stray into Bucks from some.
where and was caught by a farmer
named Detweiler, living a few miles
north of Doylestown. It's captor
could not name it. Neither could
his neighbors. Getting an idea that
the little animal was of some rare
species, Detweiler took it to the ex.
press Office to send it to the ZOO. He
wa saved the trouble by a man ia
miliar with woodchucks, who hap.
pened to see it in the box ready for
shipment.
Buzzards are seen somewhat more
frequently, especially in the lower
end of the county. They never,
however, appear in any numbers.
The carrion they crave is seldom
left unburied, and there is nothing
to attract them. The ground as a
rule is level, not affording the de-
serted, rocky spots in which they
build their nests. 1t is a rare thing
to see one of the big birds in its
smooth, graceful fight and still
rarer to find one that has alighted.
Not many miles to the south is
the border line beyond which buzz
yards are SO common that they at
tract no attention. That they do
not drift over is remarkable, con-
sidering that they can and often do
fly a couple Of hundred miles in a
day. The Chester county farmer
and his neighbor in Delaware III
ty accept their presence as a matter
of course and even look upon them
as'a necessity for doing scavenger
duty. The horse, COW or pig that
dies on the farm is hauled out into
a field, where in a few days only a
skeleton is left to show that the
buzzards have performed their of
flee. Flocks of several hundred join
in the feast on a single animal and
when stuffed to repletion stay lazily
around in the vicinity for the best
part Of a week until the effects of
their gluttony wear off. However
repulsive they may appear, they are
not disturbed, for their services are
really valuable, and people see to it
that the law which protects them is
.rigtdly enforced.
The scent, eyesight or instinct,
whatever i may be, that draws
t~herhstoathe place where carrion is
exposed is wonderfully developed.
Within an hour or two from the
time when a body is put out, though
there may not bea buzzard in sight,
hey appear from all directions,
:ircling round and round and grad.
tally drawing nearer. They never
TRY, but settle slowly down on
espot. To those first arrived 9TH
RS r constantly added until the
arcass is no more.
The other habitue of Chester coun-
y, the woodchuck, seems out of
'lace there. His family is seldom
ucountered so far south except in
untainous districts, but the big
Is in Chester give him a refuge.
4As the soil is cultivated he gains a
frmer hold and revels in the clover
fields. Attempts to drive him out
are fruitless, for he glides into his
burrow at the lei suspicion of
danger. In the country between
Chester and Northampton counties
he is little known, but northward
from the upper Delaware hills his
domain extends into and throughout
New Observation-Disclosures Rec
ord.