The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-10-11

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A feature 81 campaigning in Cuba
whicN ~ in9pired The soldiers from
the north with horror and disgust -
the prosenoe of the huge turkey buzz
uAxds on The battleHelds- This bird -
psrhaps IN appearance and habits she
mont loathsome creature Of air knowSn
70 thip continent. H n, ofright, = sui-
ture3 stands about two and one-hah
feet high, and Is Of luStrous brown
ish black plumage.
The hideous part Of the bird is fts
head and neck naked Of plumage and
reddish, like raw flesh. Below this Is
circular ruff Of feathers, which
seems TO accentuate the revolving ap-
pearance Of the neck. The bin is long
and slender. with a powerful curved
tip for tearing flesh.
Carbon is the food Of the turkey
buzzard. though il VIII eat fresh meat,
and, when In force, win even kill small
animals or birds. But American soE
diers In Cuba, with their dead lying In
the thick underbrush, know too well
what the approach of these vuftures
means, and for them the nauseous
birds form the chief horrors OF the
war. In letter to friend in this city,
written after the fighting at Baiquiri,
one Of the rough riders tells of watch
ing the buzzards come, and shooting at
them as they settled down to their
feast. One Of his company he adds,
who fought as brayely as the best dur
ing the battle, went into sort OF q
hysterical fit at the approach Of one OF
the birds, and covered away from It,
crying like child. Other instances
of the soldiers shooting at the buzzards
and killing or driving them away have
been related.
Yet there is much to be said on the
side Of the carrion birds. They are
our best allies, and as soon as the bat
tie is over their work of sanitation be-
gins. In that hot climate death turks
In the dead and reaches forth for the
living. Close behind death in battle
waits death by pestiIence, ready to
claim moro victims than shot and she'll
1t Is here that 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 in the all but impenetrable
chapparral. What the burial parties
cannot find In that tangled underwood
the instinct of the vrllture discovers.
Far away in the sky-distance black
spot appears, grows larger, and sails
along on motionless wings until pres
emily it settles down to earth. Others
follow, gathering from all parts Of the
compass. They settle in little bands
Of six or eight or even a dozen, and
when they have risen, instead of the
intolerable and horrible residue Of hu-
manity which lay In the brush,
menace OF pestilence, there remains
only skeleton to whiten in the sun
and rain.
All through the south the worth OF
the turkey buzzard as scavenger is
well understood Laws are In force
protecting these birds, and anyone
shooting them or wantonly disturbing
them is fined. In the smaller towns
they are the street-cleaning depart
ment, and even In cities like Charles
ton they stalk about the streets unmo-
Tested, and uttering their harsh, hiss
ing note New Jersey is as far north
as they get on the Atlantic coast, but
the southern states TEEN with them,
and In Cuba they have multiplied rap
Idly in the last two years. Hideous and
foul as they and their ways are the
northern soldier who shoots them un-
Willingly commits an offense against
the whole army of invasion, for II
there were no turkey buzzards In Cuba
many good American who will re-
turn home to tell of his part in the war
would leave his bones for testimonial
to a more deadly foe than the Spanish.
Chicago Inter Ocean.