160 [February, 



The former are correct, and the latter appear to have been led into error by the 

 Ftatement of Buffon who figures the C. jota in PI. Enl. 187, and states in the text 

 PI. Knl. i, p. 136, that it is called " ouroua ou aura." Daudin, Traite d'Orn. ii. p. 

 19, under C. aura, cites Biiffon's plate. Spix, Av. Bras. i. p. 2, describes the C. 

 jota under the name of Cathartes aura, and also cites Buff. PI. Enl. 187. Vieillot> 

 in Ois. de I'Am. Sept. pi. 2, figures C. jota, and in his text cites Vultur aura, Linn, 

 as a synonymc, though he also figures the true C. aura, Linn , pi. 2, bis. and gives 

 its correct name. 



M. D'Orbigny, in Voy. dans I'Am. Merid. Ois. p. 31, although he describes and 

 figures the C. aura by its proper name, yet quotes C. jota, «* Ch. Bonap.," and 

 Vultur atratus, Wilson, Orn. Am. ix. pi. 75, fig. 1, as synonymes, which is an 

 error, as he would readily have ascertained by referring to Wilson's figure as quot- 

 ed by himself. 



There is moreover a further difficulty. It seems desirable to know whether 

 Liniineus described from North or South American specimens, as the Prince De 

 Wied has described the North American bird as a species distinct from the C. aura, 

 Linn., under the name of Cathartes septentrionalis, De Wied ; — the original descrip- 

 tion I have not seen, but it is copied at length in Tschudi's Fauna Peruana, Orn. 

 p. 74. 



It is probably now quite impossible to ascertain from what part of America the 

 specimens described by Linnaeus were actually brought, but fortunately the diffi- 

 culty last stated, as well as all the former, is easily settled without such know- 

 ledge. 



As synonymous with Vultur aura, Linnaeus himself in Syst. Nat., 12th edition, 

 i., p. 122, cites Catesby, Carolina 1, pi. 6, and Sloane's Jamaica ii., pi. 254, both of 

 which are clearly the same bird as that figured by Wilson and Audubon, under the 

 same name, so it would appear sufficiently evident that whatever other species may 

 inhabit America, the common bird of North America is the true C. aura, Linn. 

 I beg leave to add, that that excellent observer and accurate naturalist Mr. George 

 Ord, expressly states, in Am. Orn. ix., p. 99, " The Vultur which Sir Hans Sloane 

 has figured and described is undoubtedly the Vultur aura," that is to say, it is the 

 same as the species figured by Wilson. 



The figure of the head in D'Orbigny's Voyage dans I'Am. Merid., pi. 1, fig. 3, 

 appears to me to be that of the true C. aura, Linn., or the same as the North 

 American species, and the same as that described by Spix, Av. Bras. 1, p. 2,under 

 the name of Cathartes ruficollis, Spix, which is, therefore, a synonyme. 



5. Cathartes Burrovianus, Cassin. 



This is a species described by me from a specimen brought from Mexico, and 

 is the smallest of all known Vultures. The Rivoli collection contains one speci- 

 men of this bird, which is more adult than the specimen described. 



This may be the species which is alluded to by Pennant, in Arctic Zoology, (as 

 quoted by Mr. Ord,) who say* that the Turkey Vulture of the West Indies is 

 •' far inferior in size to that of North America." 



The plumage of the specimen in the Rivoli collection, is clear black, like that 

 of the specimen previously in the collection of the Academy ; the secondaries hav- 

 ing slightly palter margins, but with no mixture or edging of brownish which pre- 

 vails in the plumage of all the specimens of C. aura which I have seen. The 



