702 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— RAPTORES — CATHARTIDES. 



hooked. Nasal passage much more contracted than nasal fossa. Wings of great amplitude, 

 folding to or beyond end of square tail ; ends of primaries uncovered by secondaries ; 4th or 5th 

 quills longest. Tarsus about as long as middle toe. One species. 



P. california'nus. (Of California. Fig. 477.) Californian Condor. Queleli. Adult 

 (J 9 : Blackish, the feathers with bnjwner tips or edges, quite gray or even whitish on wing- 

 coverts and inner quills ; pri- 

 maries and tail-feathers black; 

 axillars and lining of M'ings 

 white ; bill yellowish, redden- 

 ing on cere, and skin of head 

 orange or reddish ; iris said by 

 some to be brown, by others 

 carmine. Length 4-4^ feet; 

 extent about 9|- feet ; said to 

 be sometimes "nearly 11 feet ; " 

 wing 2^-3 feet ; tail 1^-1 ^ feet ; 

 tarsus 4.50-5.00 inches ; mid- 

 dle toe without claw 4.00-4.50 ; 

 middle claw 1.90; hind claw 

 1.50; chord of culmen without 

 cere about ].50, but whole bill 

 about 4.00, whole head about 

 7.00 ; cere on top nearly 3.00 ; 

 weight 20-25 lbs. Young with 

 bill and naked parts dusky, and 

 more or less downy ; plumage 

 wathout white. Nestlings cov- 

 ered with whitish down. This 

 great creature rivals the South 

 American Condor in size, and 

 like it is powerful enougli to 

 destroy young or otherwise 

 lielpiess animals as large as 

 itself, though its usual food is 

 carrion. It formerly inhabited 

 the whole of the Pacific coast region from British Columbia to Lower California, E. to Ari- 

 zona, w^iere I saw it at Fort Yuma (mouth of the Gila) in 1865, and probably to some little 

 portion of Utah ; now much decreased in numbers, only locally distributed in Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia, and restricted in the breeding season to California W. of the Sierras Nevadas S. of lat. 

 37°, including some parts of Lower California; known to have occurred in Arizona (Auk, 

 July, 1899, p. 272). Casual in Alberta (Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 189). Early in this century it 

 abounded on the Columbia river, as we learn from the accounts of Lewis and Clark, and 

 others, who had diflSculty in keeping large game they had killed from the attacks of these for- 

 midable birds of prey. They are still common in certain localities, and not likely to be soon 

 exterminated, by poison or otherwise, as they are shy and sensible enough to betake themselves 

 to the roughest country to breed in inaccessible places. The nidification is like that of the 

 Turkey Buzzard ; but eggs whitisli, unmarked, narrowly elliptical, about 4.50 X 2.50. The 

 general habits appear to be the same as those of the Turkey Buzzard ; the flight is similar. 

 CATHAR'TES. (Gr. KadapTrji, kathartes, a purifier.) Turkey Buzzards. Of medium 

 size ; body slender. Whole head and upper part of neck naked, the plumage beginning as a 



Fig. 477. — Californian Condor. (From Tenney, after Audubon. ) 



