COLUMB.E: COLUMBINE BIRDS. 



705 



C. urubu. (South American name of some bird of this family. Figs. 480, 481.) Carriox- 

 CROW. Black Vulture. Adult $ 9 : Entire plumage, including skin of head, and bill, 

 blackish ; shafts of primaries white, their 

 bases paling to gray or whitish. Tip of bill 

 and feet grayish-yellow; iris brown; claws 

 black. Smaller than C. aura, in linear di- 

 mensions, but a heavier bird ; length about 

 2 feet ; e.Ktent only about 4^ feet ; wing 17.00 

 inches; tail 8.00; tarsus ,S.OO; middle toe 

 rather less ; chord of culmen without cere 

 1.00 or less. Nesting like that of C. aura ; 

 eggs similar, but averaging larger, or at any 

 rate longer, being usually a little over ;3.00 X 

 2.00, though ranging from 3.3') X 2.:2() down 

 to 2.75 X 1-85 ; they are also tinged witli i)ale 

 greenish or bluisli ratlier than creamy in the 

 ground color, but in markings are indistin- 

 guishable from those of the other species ; the number is 2 as a rule, rarely 1 or 3, and the 

 period of dejiositiou runs from March to May. Chiefly S. Atlantic and Gulf States, especially 

 in maritime regions, there very numerous, outnumbering Turkey-Buzzards, and semi-domesti- 

 cated in the towns, where their good offices are appreciated ; N. regularly to North Carolina, 

 thence straggling to Massachusetts and even Maine; and up the Mississipjii Valley to Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas, and casually South Dakota; not authenticated as occur- 

 ring on Pacific side, but of general distribution in Central and South America. C. alrata 

 (Bartram, 1791) of all former eds. of the Key, and of A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-9'): C. urubu 

 COUE.S, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 84; A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 108. 



Via. 481. — Black Vulture. (L. A. Fuertes.) 



No one can fail to observe with interest the great difference in the form and general appearance of the Turkey- 

 buzzard and Carrion-crow when he compares them sitting side by side sunning themselves upon chimney or house-top ; 

 and especially the discrepancy in their mode of flight as they wheel together overhead in endless inosculating circles. 

 The Turkey-buzzards look larger as they fly, though really they are lighter weights ; they seem dingy-brown, with a 

 gray space underneath the wing ; the tail is long ; the fore-border of the wing is bent at a salient angle, and there is a 

 corresponding re-entrance in its hind outline ; the tips of the longest quills spread apart and bend upward ; and one may 

 watch these splendid tlyers for hours without perceiving a movement of the pinions. Comparing now the Carrion-crows, 

 they are seen to be more thick-set, with less sweep of wing and shorter and more rounded tail, beyond which the feet 

 may project ; the front edge of the wing is almost straight, and the back border sweeps around in a regular curve to meet 

 it at an obtuse point, where the ends of the quills are neither spread apart nor bent upward. The birds show almost block 

 insteixd of brown ; in pl.ice of a large gray area under the wing, there is a smaller paler gray spot at the jKjint of the wing. 

 And, finally, the Carrion-crows flap their wings five or six times in rapid succession, then sail a few momeuts ; their flight 

 appears heavy, and even laborious, beside the stately motion of their relatives. 



Order COLUMB^ : Columbine Birds. 



An essential character of birds typical of this group is found in structure of bill, which is 

 horny and ccmvex at tip, somewhat contracted in continuity, furnished at base with a tumid 

 membrane in which the nostrils open. Toes 4 ; 3 anterior, generally cleft to base, but ooca- 

 siniially witii slight webbing ; one behind, with few exceptions perfectly insistent or not obvi- 

 ously elevate(l. Feet desmopelmous in the ordinary way, never much lengthened; tarsus is 

 commonly shorter than toes, either scutellato or extensively feathered, reticulate on sides and 

 behind ; envidop rather membranous than corne<ius. (One North American genus, Staruirttas, 

 has entirely reticidate tarsus and elevated hallux.) On the whole, the feet are in.se.'<.sori«l, not 

 rasorial ; the habit is arboreal, not terrestrial ; but there are many irroiind pigeons, sonic quite 

 fowl-like; ;ind jirogression is always gradient, never saltatory. The wings and tail do uol 



45 



