352 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



chusetts and one in the Bay of Fundy; but such occurrences are very rare. 

 Along the coast of all the Southern States, from North Carolina to Texas, it 

 is much more abundant than il.s kindred species, even where, in the interior 

 of the same State, it is far less fre(iuent. Along the banks of the Mississippi 

 and its tributaries, as far as Oliio to the east and Illinois to the north, it is 

 found more or less abundantly at certain seasons. It is met with in several 

 of the West India Islands, tliough rare in Jamaica. It is abundant through- 

 out Central America, and occurs in nearly all parts of Soutli America. Speci- 

 mens were brought from Chile by Lieutenant Gilliss, obtained near Santiago, 

 where it was not common, and only found in the mountainous regions of the 

 interior. Darwin fixes its extreme southern limit in latitude 41° south, near 

 the Eio Negro, and he did not meet with any in Chile or Patagonia. 



Mr. E. C. Taylor, in his paper on the Bii-ds of tlie West Indies, mentions 





Catharista atrala. 



the great abundance of Black Vultures at Port of Spain, in Trinidad. They 

 swarmed over the town, covered tlie roofs of the houses, and lived on the 

 best terms with the poultry. So tame and familiar were they that he often 

 poked them witii his stick or umbrella as he walked through the streets. At 

 night they roosted in the trees in the gardens and squares of the town. They 

 were very abundant all over Trinidad and in the parts of Venezuela he 

 visited, but he found none in any of the islands from Trinidad to St. Thomas. 

 This species was not found in Jamaica by Mr. Gosse, but Mr. March after- 

 wards reported it as a " recent settler." 



Mr. G. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1860, p. 22) found the Black Vulture very 

 abundant in Honduras, where it is always to be seen in the villages, 

 sitting on the roofs of the houses, wheeling in flocks high in the air, or 

 feeding on the oflal in the streets. They were very tame and very nu- 



