BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 45 



CATHARTES AURA TETER Friedmann 



Western Turkey Vulture 



Similar to C. aura aura, but with a longer tail, wing as in the 

 nominate race. 



Adult male.—Wmg 495-530 (508.8); tail 245-271 (258.8); culmen 

 from cere 22-25.5 (24.2); tarsus 59-68 (64.3); middle toe without 

 claw 58-67 (62.9 mm.) (13 specimens). 



Adult Jemale. —Wing 487-535 (506.5); tail 246-281 (262.6); culmen 

 from cere 22-26 (24.4); tarsus 59-73 (65.1); middle toe without claw 

 62-70 (65.3 mm.) (21 specimens). 



Range. — ^Austral zones from southern British Columbia, central 

 Alberta, Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, western Ontario, Wis- 

 consin, and northern Minnesota south to southern Baja California, 

 northern Mexico (Sonora (Guadaloupe Canyon), Chihuahua, Micho- 

 acdn, and Tamaulipas, south in the tablelands to the Distrito Federal) 

 east to eastern Texas, Oldahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, 

 Minnesota, and south central Michigan, intergrading with septen- 

 trionalis in southeastern Michigan and probably in western Missouri. 

 Winters from Vancouver Island (Comox) and California to Nebraska 

 and southward, at least as far as Panama and probably to Colombia. 



Type locality. — Riverside, Calif. 



Vultur aura Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 1758, 86, part; ed. 12, i, 1766, 122, 

 part. — Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, pt. 1, 1788, 246, part. — Latham, Index Orn., 

 i, 1790, 4, part; Ois. Am6r. Sept., i, 1807, 25, pi. 2 bis, part. — Wilson, Amer. 

 Orn., ix, 1814, 96, pi. 75, fig. 1, part. — Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. 

 New York, iii, 1824, 842, part (crit.). — Audubon, Edinburgh Journ. Sci., 

 vi, 1827, 156, in text, part (compared with Coragijps), 



Catharies aura Bonaparte, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, iii, pt. 2, 1824, 

 342, part; Obs. Wilson's Amer. Orn., 1826 [2], part; Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. 

 New York, ii, pt. 1, 1826, 23, part; Contr. Maelurian Lye., i, 1827, 10, 

 part; Consp. Gen. Av., i, 1850, 9, part; Rev. Mag. Zool., vi, 1854, 530, part. — 

 Swainson and Richardson, Fauna Bor. Amer., ii, 1831, 4, part. — Nuttall, 

 Man. Orn. United States and Canada, Land Birds, 1832, 43; ed. 2, 1840, 

 44, part.— Audubon, Orn. Biogr., ii, 1834, 296, pi. 151; v, 1839, 339, part; 

 Synopsis, 1839, 2, part; Birds Amer., 8vo ed., i, 1840, 15, pi. 2, part. — 

 Townsend, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, viii, 1839, 151 (nw. United 

 States). — Gambel, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, iii, 1846, 44 (Cali- 

 fornia); in Wiegmann's Arch, fiir Naturg., i, 1848, 83 (California); Journ. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, i, 1847, 25. — Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Philadelphia, iv, 1849, 159, part (crit.); in Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., 

 ix, 1858, 4, part. — Henry, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vii, 1855, 

 307 (New Mexico); xi, 1859, 104 (New Mexico). — Maximilian, Journ. fur 

 Orn., 1856, 119, part (history, descr., etc.); 1858, 2 (w. United States). — 

 Brewer, North Amer. Ool., i, 1857, 1, pi. 1, figs. 1, 2, part. — Newberry, 

 Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., vi, chapt. 2, 1857, 73 (California; Oregon). — 

 Baird, Rep. U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv. ii, pt. 2, 1859, 3 (Matamoros, 

 Tamaulipas); Cat. North Amer. Birds, 1859, No. 1, part; in Cooper, Orn. 

 California, Land Birds, 1870, 502. — Heermann, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., 



