BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 55 



no white on upper or under wing coverts (until fourth year when 

 adult plumage is assumed) and with broader brown edges to the 

 feathers of the upperparts. 



Natal down. — White; the head and neck bare, at first, in newly 

 hatched birds fleshy pink, later becoming ochraceous-yellow as the 

 pigment develops; tarsus and toes and bill dark, obscure ochraceous 

 {ex manuscript notes of A. S. Taylor sent to Robert Ridgway many 

 years ago). 



Adults— Wmg (chord) 764-813 (791.4); (arc) 806.5-914.5 (879.6); 

 tail 330-380 (355.1); culmen from the cere 36.5-44.1 (38.3); tarsus 

 109-124.1 (114.1); middle toe without claw 101.6-122.6(111.2 mm.)^; 

 weight 16-26 pounds (ex Finlay, Condor, x, 1908, 7). 



Range. — Pacific coast of the United States, from Baja California to 

 Oregon (Drain, Douglas County, and to the Columbia River) and 

 Washington (Fort Vancouver) ; casual in Ai'izona and southern Utah 

 (and in southeastern "Wyoming? ^°) ; also in southv/estern Alberta (near 

 Calgary) . Now chiefly confined to the southern Coast Range (having 

 been exterminated in many districts where formerly present) from 

 Monterey and Benito Counties to Los Angeles County, northeast 

 thi'ough the mountains and southern end of San Joaquin VaUey into 

 Tulare, Kern County, possibly along the western foothills of the 

 Sierra Nevada as far as Fresno County. Originally this bird ranged 

 eastward to Florida, where its bones have been found in Pleistocene 

 strata; within much more recent times (in a geoogical sense) it 

 occurred at least as far east as Mule Ears Peaks, Chisos Mountains, 

 Tex. Known also from cave deposits in Nevada (Gypsum Cave) 

 and Guadalupe Mountains, N. Mex. 



There is one uncertain and unsatisfactory record of this bird in 

 southern British Columbia,^^ which may be discounted. 



Type locality. — Coast of California. 



Vultur californianus Shaw, Nat. Misc., ix, 1797, i, pi. 301 ("coast of California" 

 [San Francisco or Monterey?]; type now in coll. Brit. Mus.; see Sharpe, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus., i, 1874, 29, spec. a). — Latham, Index Orn. Suppl., 1801, 

 pp. ii, 2. — TuRTON, Syst. Nat., i, 1806, 139. — Shaw, Gen. Zool., vii, pt. 1, 

 1809, 10. — ViEiLLOT, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 1819, 450. — Douglas, 

 Zool. Journ., iv, 1828, 328; Isis, 1831, 110.— Lesson, Traite d'Orn., ii, 1831, 

 26 (crit.). — LicHTENSTEiN, Beitr. Orn. Fauna California, Phys. Abh. Akad. 

 Wiss. Berlin, 1838 (1840), 424.— Hanna, Condor, xxxiii, 1931, 212 (reprint 

 of Lichtenstein). — Grinnell, Univ. California Publ. Zool., xxxviii, 1932, 

 265 (type loc; crit.). — Harris, Condor, 1941, 10, 17, 25, in text (crit.; tax. 

 hist.; descr.; meas.). 



Cathartes californianus Ranzani, Elem. Orn., Ill, vii, 1823, 23. — Bonaparte, 

 Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., ii, pt. 1, 1826, 22; Contr. Maclurian Lye, 1827 



2° Nine specimens, seven males, two females (sexes alike in size). 



30 Cf. Forest and Stream, vii. No. 25, May 13, 1875, 329. 



31 Cf. Taverner, Birds Western Canada, 1926, 183. 



