BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 11 



Genus SARCORAMPHUS Dumeril 



Sarcoramvhus Dumeril, Zool. Analytique, 180G (1805), 32. (Type, as subse- 

 quently designated by Vigors, Zool. Journ., ii, 1825, 381, note, and 384, 

 Vultur papa Linnaeus.) (See Allen, Bull, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., xxiv, 

 1905, 35, 38.) 



Sarcoramphos (emendation) Douglas, Companion to Bot. Mag., ii, 1836, 99. 



Sarcorhamphos (emendation) Brehm, Isis, 1837, 368. 



Sarcorhainphus (emendation) Boie, Isis, 1826, "976" = 970. 



Sarcorramphus (emendation) Brehm (A. E.), Thierleben, iii, 1866 (1865), 560. 



Sarcorrhamph^l■s (emendation) Burmeister, Handb. Naturg., Heft 2, 1837, 781. 



Gypagus ^^ Vibillot, Analyse, 1816, 21. (Type, as designated by Gray, 1844, 

 Genera Birds, i, 4, Vultur papa Linnaeus.) 



Gypagos (emendation) Schinz, Thierreich, i, 1821, 454. 



Gyparchus Gloger, Hand- und Hilfsbuch, 1842 (1841), 235. (Type, by 

 monotypy, Vultur papa Linnaeus.) 

 <iCathartes Illiger, Prodr. Syst. Mamm. et Av., 1811, 236 (no type; includes 

 Vultur papa Linnaeus and V. aura Linnaeus in the order named; diagnosis 

 that of the family). — Spix, Av. Bras., 1, 1824 (includes C. aura and 

 C. ruficollis). 



"Cathartes, Illig." Gray, Hand-List, i, 1869, 3.— Suarpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., i, 1874, 22. 



Large and very robust Cathartae (wing about 480-525 mm.), with 

 strong bill, cere surmounted by a wrinkled subcrect or semipendent 

 wrinkled caruncle (in adults), and with plumage commencing abruptly 

 on lower neck with broad, rounded, normal feathers. 



Bill very strong, the culmen strongly arched from base and very 

 strongly and rather abruptly decurved, the tip of the maxilla strongly 

 uncinate; gonys convex, ascending terminally, prominent basally 

 through narrowing of rami; maxillary tomium concave anteriorly, 

 slightl}^ convex or descending posteriorly; the commissm'e terminating 

 far anterior to anterior angle of eye, the rictus being on a line (verti- 

 cally) with posterior end of nostril or slightly anterior thereto; cere 

 inclining upward from base of maxillary rhinotheca to level of an- 

 terior portion of forehead, its upper surface with an erect or semi- 

 pendent fleshy or cartilaginous wrinkled caruncle or "comb," the 

 base of which is shorter (longitudinally) than the apex and attached 

 from near the anterior edge of the cere to a little past middle of nostril; 

 auricular and subauricular regions longitudinally corrugated; nostril 

 elongate- or elliptical-ovate, near upper part of cere, its longitudinal 

 axis parallel with the latter. Wing large and broad but primaries 

 relativel}^ short, the longest not extending beyond tip of longest second- 

 aries; third primary (from outside) slightly longest, the first (outer- 

 most) shorter than sixth but longer than seventh. Tail a little less 



12 In the "Analyse" Vieillot includes under Gypagus (1) "Roi des Vautours 

 BuWlon]^ Vultur papa Linnaeus, and (2) "Vultur gryffus Linn."==F. gryphus 

 Linnaeus. In the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxxvi, 1919, 449, the species men- 

 tioned are Vultur calif ornianus and "V. gryffus." 



