34 BULLETIN 5 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



e. Tail usually over 250 mm. in length (w. United States). 



C. a. teter (p. 45) 

 ee. Tail usuallj' under 250 mm. in length (tropical Florida and Texas 



to Colombia) C. a. aura (p. 34) 



dd. Plumage black; the upper wing coverts with little or restricted brown 

 marginal color C. a. ruficoUis ^3 (extralimlati) 



CATHARTES AURA AURA (Linnaeus) 



Central American Turkey Vulture 

 Adults (sexes alike). — Body, wings, and tail generally blackish with 

 steel bluish or greenish blue iridescence on the feathers of the upper- 

 parts, breast, and upper wing coverts; with a dull purplish black 

 iridescence on the remiges and rectrices ; feathers of the abdomen and 

 the under tail coverts w^th little or no sheen and less blackish, more a 

 mixture of fuscous-black and chaetura black; the scapulars and upper 

 wing coverts broadly margined with Verona brown, the edges some- 

 times paling into a snuff brown or darkening into bister; the sheen on 



Cathartes aura (not Vultur aura Linnaeus), d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye, Synop. 

 Avium, 1837, 2, part; Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1859, 93 (Falkland Islands) ; 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1860, 383 (Falkland Islands); Sclater and Salvin, 

 Ibis, 1869, 284 (Straits Magellan); Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1878, 434 (Falkland 

 Islands; crit.) ; Voy. Challenger, ii, pt. 8, 1881, 105 (Falkland Islands, crit.; nomen.) ; 

 Dabbene, Orn. Argent., 1910, 239, part (Patagonia; Tierra del Fuego). — 

 Rhinogryphus aura Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1811, 9 (Tom Bay, Straits 

 Magellan; crit.) .-—Catharista falklandica Sharpe, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, 

 xi, 1873, 133 (Berkelej^ Sound, Falkland Islands). — Oenops falklandica Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 1, 1874, 27, pi. 2, fig. 1 (Berkeley Sound, Falkland Islands).— 

 Cathartes faUdandicas Dabbene, Orn. Argent., 1910, 239 (Patagonia; Malvinas) ; 

 Stone, Rep. Princeton Univ. Exped. Patagonia, ii, pt. 4, 1915, 551 (syn.; descr.; 

 habits).- — Cathartes aura jota Swann, Synop. Accip., pt. 1, 1921, 4 (Falkland 

 Islands, Straits Magellan and Patagonia, north to Concepci6n).- — Cathartes aura 

 falklandica Dabbene, Orn. Argent., 1910, 413; Swann, Synop. Accip., pt. 3, 1922, 

 Addendum to pp. 3-4 (on coast to Chincha Island, Peru); Monogr. Birds Prey, i, 

 1924, 13 (monogr.); Wetmorc, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 133, 1926, 90 (syst.); Peters, 

 Check-list Birds of World, i, 1931, 191 (distr.). 



23 Cathartes aura ruficollis.— Ca//iartes ruficollis Spix, Av. Bras., i, 1824, 2 

 (interior of Bahia and Piauhy). — Cathartes aura (not Vultur aura Linnaeus) 

 Lichtenstein, Verz. Saug. und Vogel Mus. Berlin, 1818, 30 (Brazil); d'Orbigny, 

 Voy. Am6r. Merid., iv, pt. 3, 1839, 38, part (habits); Sclater and Salvin, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. London, 1867, 589 (Pard, Brazil); Pelzeln, Orn. Bras., Abth. i, 1868, 1; 

 Berlepsch, Journ. fiir Orn., 1873, 292 (Santa Catarina, Brazil; crit.; range). — 

 Oenops pernigra Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., i, 1874, 26 (Guiana, Amazonia, and 

 Vern) —Oenops aura Heine and Reichenow, Nom. Mus. Heine. Orn., 1890, 274; 

 Hagmann, Zool. Jahrb., 1907, 18 (Mexiana Island, Brazil); Reiser, Denkw. 

 Mat.-Nat. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1910, 88 (Joazsiro, ne. Brazil). — Cathartes aura 

 ruficollis Swann, Synopsis Accipitres, pt. 3, 1922, addendum to pp. 3-4 (e. South 

 Amer.; Venezuela and Guiana to Brazil and Paragua.y) ; Monogr. Birds Prey, i, 

 1924, 16 (monogr); Wetmore, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 133, 1926, 88 (crit.; habits); 

 Peters, Check-list Birds of World, i, 1931, 191 (distr.).— Cai/taries iota (not 

 Vultur iota Molina) Bonyan, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1851, 53 (Brit. Guiana; 

 habits). 



