Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1898-08-12
CARBON BIRDS IN CUBA.
Hideous Turkey Buzzards That
are Allies Of the Army.

CUBA when mas INSPIRED tue
soldier from the North with
horror and disgust is the pre-
sence of the huge turkey buzz
cards On the battlefield. This
bird Is perhaps in appearance
end habits tbs most loathsone
creature Of the air to this con-
finsnt. 1t is of right q vulturc,
lands about two and one-half
teet high, and is of a lustrous
brownishblsck plumase. The
lideous part of the bird ia its
lead and neck, naked Of plum
ge and reddish, like raw flesh.
Below this is = circular ruff of
Gathers. which seems to eoncen-
rate the revolving appearance OF
.he neck. The bill is long and
slender, with a powerful curved
tip for tearing flesh.
Carbon is the food of the tur-
Key buzzard, though it will cat
fresh meat, and, when IN force,
will even kill small animals OF
birds. But American soldiers Ii,
Caba, with their dead lying in
the thick underbrush, know toe
we'll what the approach of these
vultures means, and for them the
nauseous birds form the chiet
horror of the war. In letter tc
q friend IN this city, writer
after the fighting at Baiquiri
one of the Rough Riders tells o
watching the buzzards come
and shooting at than as they
settled down to their feast. One
of his company, he adds, whc
fought al bravely as the res
during the battle, went into &
hysterical fit at the approach O
one of the birds, and covered
away from it, crying like
child. Other instances of the
soldiers shooting at the bszzsrd:
aud killing and driving then
away have been related.
Yet there is much to be sait
on the side Of tho carbon birds
They are our best allies, and q:
soon % the battle Is over Their
work of sanitation begins. II
that hot climate dsath turks In
the dead aud reaches forth for the
living. Close behind death il
battle waits death by pestileD &C
ready to claim more victims thar
shot and she'll. It is here ths>
the vultures perform their part
terrible to think of, but very
necessary to the armY's veal
After the battle friend or foe lie
dead together III the all but i'm
pen9trable chsparral. What the
burial parties cannot find in that
tangled underwood, the instinct
of the vulture discovers. Far
away in the sky distance a black
spot appears, grows larger, and
sails along On 1notionless wing.
until presently 1t settle> down to
the earth. Others follow, gath
ering from all parts of the COM
pass. They settle in little bands
of six or eight or even a dozen,
and when they have risen, in
stead of the intolerable and her.
rible residue of humanity which
lie in the brush, a menace OF
pestilence, there remains only a
skeleton to Written in the sun
and rain.
All through the south the
worth Of the turkey buzzard as
a scavenger is we'll understood
Laws are in force protecting these
birds, and any one shooting
them or wantonly disturbing
them Is fined. In the smaller
towns they are the street cleaning
dedartment, and even in cities
like Charleston they stalk about
the streets unmolested, and ut
tering their harsh, Kissing note,
New Jersey IS as far North as
they get on the Atlantic coast,
hut the Southern States TEEN
with them, and in Cuba they
have multiplied rapidly in the
last two years. Hideous and foul
as they and their ways are, the
Northern soldier who shoots
unwittingly commits an offense
against the whole army Of in
vasion, for if there were no tur-
key buzzards in Cuba many a
good American who will return