MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 315 



Mr. Cassin * refers the species described as above by Bartram to the 

 genus Sarcorhamphus (S. sacer Cassin = Vultur sacra Bartram), believing 

 it to be a valid species, and remarks that its identification " may be consid- 

 ered as one of the most important services to be performed in North Ameri- 

 can ornithology." It is related, Mr. Cassin continues, <- to the king vulture 

 (S. papa), but that species has a black tail, and in case of mistake or mis- 

 print in Bartram's description, it may be presumed, at any rate, to relate 

 to an occurrence of that species within the United States.f There is no 

 more interesting nor more singular problem in North American ornithol- 

 ogy." Two years later, in Baird's Birds of North America, Mr. Cassin 

 again refers to the subject, and says that " recent information renders it 

 probable that this [ Vultur sacra Bartram], or a species different from the 

 vultures just described [Cathartes aura, C. alratus, C Burrocianus'}, is 

 found about Lake Okechobee in Southern Florida, where it is called king 

 buzzard. The verification of this statement by actual specimens would 

 be one of the most important discoveries yet to be made in North Ameri- 

 can ornithology." 



Although the description of Bartram's " Vultur sacra " accords more 

 nearly with the Sarcoramphus papa than with any other known species, I 

 cannot avoid the conclusion that it is in the main a purely mythical species, 

 notwithstanding the high reputation for veracity generally accorded to Mr. 

 Bartram. I mainly so regard it for the reason that Florida has of late 

 been too often traversed by naturalists, and especially all the parts visited by 

 Bartram, for a bird of so striking an appearance, and so numerous as Bar- 

 tram represented his V. sacra to be, to remain undiscovered if such a 

 species exists there. While it nearly accords with the 5. papa in size 

 and general color, it is most radically different from this species, in the 

 color of *the tail, and in having a " large portion of the stomach hanging 

 down on the breast, in the likeness of a sack or half-wallet." In the latter 

 feature it is structurally widely different from any known American bird. 

 It is mentioned as though it was an abundant species on, at least, the 

 upper portion of the St. John's River, inasmuch as he speaks of large 

 flights of them. As to the feathers of its tail being used by the Creek In- 

 dians for a royal standard, and to ■which feathers they give a " name signi- 

 fying an eagle's tail," it seerns to me more probable that they were really 

 feathers of the white-headed eagle {Halia'elus leucoccphalus), since it is 

 well known that the tail feathers of that bird are very generally used 

 for this and similar purposes by the Indian tribes of this continent, 

 whereas the tail feathers of so foul a bird as the vulture must in all 



* Illustr. of Birds of Cuba and Texas, p. 59. 



t The S pnpa, a Central and South American species, appears to have not yet been 

 seen north of Mexico. 



