130 SARCORHAMPHID2. 
the remaining four. As he went to retrieve such a welcome addition to the pot, then 
in need of supplies, he was disgusted to find that he had killed four of these Hawks, 
instead of the game-birds. He concludes :—‘‘ When dead they still much resembled 
Curassows, but were Hawks nevertheless.” 
The colour of the soft parts must vary in this species; those given above are from 
Mr. Taylor’s note, but Mr. Nutting describes his Nicaraguan specimen as follows :— 
“Tris red; bill in front of cere greenish-yellow, basal half clear light blue; bare 
part of head deep red; feet coral-red.” 
Fam. SARCORHAMPHIDZ. 
The members of this family, which includes the South-American Condor and the 
King and Turkey Vultures, have, until recent years, on account of their bare wattled 
heads and similarity of habits, been associated in all schemes of classification with the 
Vultures of the Old World. Garrod, however, considered from certain anatomical 
points that the Sarcorhamphide had strong affinities with the Storks, and placed them 
between these birds and the Herons. Seebohm went further, and put the American 
Vultures between the Hornbills and the Steganopodes; but there is little doubt that 
the position accorded them by Huxley is the correct one, and that they must be 
regarded as an aberrant group of the Birds of Prey. In spite of their general 
resemblance to the true Vultures, they may be distinguished by the perforated nostrils 
and the structure of the skull, characters which separate them from all other forms of 
Accipitres. 
We are indebted to Mr. W. P. Pycraft for the following diagnostic characters of the 
Sarcorhamphide :—*“ Skull holorhinal; nares pervious; palate indirectly desmognathous, 
the maxillo-palatines having the form of scroll-like plates, bridged by paired lateral 
outgrowths from the nasal septum; lachrymals fused with the frontals and without 
free posterior horizontal spurs; basipterygoid processes present; olfactory chambers 
of great size; anterior palatine vacuity very large.” 
The Condors (Sarcorhamphus) are strictly Andean and do not occur within our 
limits, but the King Vulture (Gypagus) and the Turkey Vultures (Catharista and 
Cathartes) are found in Central America, the latter genera extending into North 
America. Pseudogryphus has but one representative, the Californian Turkey Vulture 
(P. californianus), while Cathartes has one species at least peculiar to South America. 
GYPAGUS. 
Gypagus, Vieillot, Anal. p. 21 (1816). 
Gyparchus, Gloger, Hand- u. Hilfsb. Nat. p. 235 (1842). 
Cathartes, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 22 (1874, ex Illiger). 
The well-known King Vulture is the only representative of the genus Gypagus and 
is distinguished from Sarcorhamphus by its small size and brighter plumage. The 
