The turkey-buzzard is a solitary bird, or at most goes in pairs.

It may at once be recognised from a long distance, by its lofty, soaring, and most elegant flight.

It is well known to be a true carrion-feeder.

On the west coast of Patagonia, among the thickly-wooded islets and broken land, it lives exclusively on what the sea throws up, and on the carcasses of dead seals.

Wherever these animals are congregated on the rocks, there the vultures may be seen.