BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 



53 



measurements of the skull and principal wing and leg bones, taken 

 from an adult male of each species: 



As to the comparative weight and alar expanse of Gymnogyps 

 californianus and Vultur gryphus, the data are meager, but give the 

 following results: 



Species 



Weight 



Extent of wings 



Gymnogyps californianus. 



Three adult males (only two of them meas- 

 ured) . 

 Three young of year (sex not determined)' 



Vultur gryphus: One adult female 



Lbs. 

 20-23(21.5) --- 



Not weighed; specimens 



eviscerated. 

 17 



Cm. 



266.7-279.58 (276.07). 



250.19-274.95 (264.79+). 

 262.25+. 



> A very young bird of G. californianus, still in the down but "with pin-feathers just showing on his 

 wings" stood 20H inches high, spread 40 inches, and weighed 15 lbs. 



No authentic record gives an alar expanse of much more than 9 

 feet 10 inches for either species, and though there are credible state- 

 ments of specimens of both measuring 11 feet from tip to tip such 

 specimens must, in the case of either, be exceptional. 



GYMNOGYPS CALIFORNIANUS (Shaw) 



Califoenia Condor 



Adults (sexes ahke). — Entire head and most of neck bare except for 

 a few blackish bristlelike feathers on the forehead and a line in front 

 of the eye; plumage of body, wings, and tail generally dusky neutral 

 gray to sooty black, being washed slightly with fuscous on the breast 

 and abdomen; the feathers of the back and rump, the scapulars, the 

 lesser and median upper wing coverts narrowly edged with army brown; 

 the greater upper wing coverts, remiges, and rectrices ashy neutral 

 gray with a silvery quality, the greater upper wing coverts very 

 broadly tipped with white; upper tail coverts like the rectrices but 

 duller; feathers around the base of the neck lanceolate and slightly 

 glossy, forming a ruff; feathers of breast and midanterior abdomen 

 similarly lanceolate; inner secondaries externally margined with white 

 on the concealed basal portion of the outer web; axillars and all the 



