124 Xdson Names of Certain North American Bi, 1*. 



be great enough to necessitate the recognition of two geographic 

 forms. This being the case, we have Cathartes aura sept r,, trio ti - 

 alis ( Wied) for the large northern form ranging from the British 

 possessions throughout the United States to northern Mexico. 

 The original name is restricted to the small bird of Mexico, 

 Central America, and the West Indies. The southern form 

 may be considered typical in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 

 which is the region where it was found by Hernandez, upon 

 whose account Linnaeus largely based his original description. 



The Vera Cruz bird was again named in 1845 when Cassin 

 described Cathartes burrovianus from a specimen a ected near 

 the city of Vera Cruz (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1845, p. 212). This name has given rise to some difference of 

 opinion among ornithologists. By some it has properly been 

 considered as a small Cathartes aura. Others have treated it as 

 a distinct species. Fortunately Cassin 's type is extant and 

 through the courtesy of Mr. Wi truer Stone of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia I have recently had the oppor 

 tunity to examine it. 



A careful comparison of this type with a considerable series 

 of birds from the United States, Cuba, the Isle of Pines and 

 various parts of Mexico makes it evident that it is a typical 

 specimen of the small turkey buzzard which occurs throughout 

 southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. It is 

 in nearly fresh black plumage but the upper side of the shafts 

 of the primaries are bleached old ivory white to within two or 

 three inches of the tips. The opening through the nostrils has 

 been distorted at the anterior end by a cord used to tie together 

 the mandibles of the fresh bird. This distortion of the nostril 

 from the same cause is shown in a number of other specimens 

 examined. The type of burrocianus is a mounted bird' with the 

 skin of the back of the neck distorted in such a way as to carry 

 the feathering higher up on the nape than normal and thus 

 furnish one of the supposed characters of the species. 



Birds from Vera Cruz, Cuba, and the Isle of Pines are about 

 the same in size but the island birds have heavier bills. The 

 Jamaica bird is even smaller than the one in Cuba. 



Birds from northern Mexico, including Lower California and 

 the entire southern border of the United States, are distinctly 

 larger than those from Vera Cruz and Cuba and there appears 



