CONTENTS 



Page 



Order Falconiformes: Diurnal birds of prey 1 



Key to the suborders of Falconiformes 3 



Suborder Cathartae: American vultures 3 



Family Cathartidae: American vultures 6 



Key to the genera of Cathartidae 9 



Genus Sarcoramphus Dum^ril 11 



S ar cor amphus papa (Linnaeus) 12 



Genus Coragyps Le Maout 17 



Coragyps atratus (Bechstein) 19 



Genus Cathartes lUiger 30 



Key to the species and subspecies of Cathartes 32 



Cathartes aura aura (Linnaeus) 34 



Cathartes aura septentrionalis Wied 38 



Cathartes aura teicr Friedmann 45 



Genus Gymnogyps Lesson 51 



Gymnogyps calif ornianus (Shaw) 53 



Suborder Falcones: True birds of prey 59 



Key to the families of Falcones 61 



Family Accipitridae: Hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old 



World vultures 63 



Superficial key to the American subfamilies of Accipitridae. __ 65 



Key to the North and Middle American genera of Accipitridae. 65 



Subfamily Elaninae: White-tailed kites 67 



Genus Elanus Savigny 69 



Key to the species and subspecies of Elanus 70 



Elanus leucurus majusculus Bangs and Penard 71 



Genus Gampsonyx Vigors 76 



Gampsonyx swainsonii leonae Chubb 77 



Subfamily Perninae: Honey buzzards and swallow-tailed kites. 80 



Genus Elanoides Vieillot 82 



Key to the subspecies of Elanoides forficatus 83 



Elanoides forficatus forficatus (Linnaeus) 83 



Elanoides forficatus yetapa (Vieillot) 90 



Genus Leptodon Sundevall 93 



Key to the species oi Leptodon 94 



Leptodon cayanensis (Latham) 95 



Genus Chondrohierax Lesson 100 



Key to the species and subspecies of Chondrohierax 102 



Chondrohierax uncinatus uncinatus (Temminck) 102 



Chondrohierax uncinatus aquilonis Friedmann 109 



Chondrohierax uncinatus mirus Friedmann 110 



Chondrohierax wilsonii (Cassin) 111 



vn 



