BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 19 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage commencing at nape with small, 

 rather broad, normally shaped feathers, which gradually increase in 

 size downward, covering the entire hind neck and sides of neck; 

 plumage in general firm and hard, that of upperparts with feathers 

 distinctly outhned, that of underparts more blended. General color 

 black (without any metallic gloss), the primaries grayish basally 

 (more whitish on under surface), their shafts white; bill and naked 

 skin of head and foreneck grayish black or dusky, in both adults and 

 voung. 

 iiii) Nidification. — No nest, but eggs (1 or 2) deposited in a cavity or 

 recess among rocks, in hollow of a log, stump, or tree trunk, or on the 

 ground; eggs ovate or broadly elliptical-ovate, white, bufFy white, or 

 greenish white; more or less spotted or blotched with reddish brown 

 and purplish gray. 



Range. — Continental Tropical, Subtropical, Warm-Temperate Amer- 

 ica, but apparently absent from Baja California and southern Cali- 

 fornia and the West Indies except Cuba and Jamaica and Gahlpagos 

 Archipelago. (Mono ty pic.) 



The single species belonging to this exceedingly well-characterized 

 genus has much the same general geographic range as Cathartes aura 

 except that it does not extend nearly as far within either the northern 

 or southern temperate areas. Coragyps is conspicuously unlike 

 Cathartes in its manner of flight and appearance when on the wing. 

 Although often soaring, its usual flight consists of a succession of rapid 

 wing beats alternating with short stretches of sailing with wings out- 

 stretched. In flight the shorter and broader wings and shorter 

 truncated tail (the latter appearing as if the terminal portion had 

 been cut off squarely across) give Coragyps a quite distinctive appear- 

 ance. There are also marked differences in manners; for example, 

 Coragyps often soars aloft at such a height as to be nearly if not quite 

 invisible, but its keen eye quickly detects a carcass or even a morsel 

 of food on the ground, when it descends almost with the velocity of a 

 thunderbolt, checking its fall by suddenly opening its wings just before 

 it reaches the surface of the earth. It is much more aggressive than 

 Cathartes, which it drives away from a carcass or other food, often 

 itself to be driven off by the arrival of a caracara (Polyborus). 



CORAGYPS ATRATUS (Bechstein) 



Black Vulture 



Adults (sexes alike). — Entire plumage uniform dull black with a 

 very faint iridescence on the wings and tail; primaries grayish basally 

 on the upper surfaces, hoary whitish to silver gray on the lower sur- 

 faces, the shafts white; bill dusky; dark brown or blackish with yellow- 



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