86 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



as the tracheal air sac. The dorsal wall of the esophagus bordering 

 the line of the muscular neck is thickened, while the distended 

 anterior saclike portion is much thinner. This portion of the 

 esophagus is obviously capable of considerable inflation, and re- 

 mains broad and full even in the alcoholic specimen. Below the 

 distension the esophageal walls are thickened as is normal. 



The lingual muscles covering the hyoids are unusually heavy and 

 well developed, as are the muscular slings that support the hyoidean 

 apparatus below the head. Muscular attachments are evident on 

 the lateral walls of the upper end of the esophagus, but in the 

 specimen available I am unable to make out their arrangement. 



It is evident that the atrophy of the tracheal air sac has been 

 replaced by this curious esophageal expansion, a structure en- 

 tirely absent in E. jatnaicensis. The syrinx has no lateral bulb, 

 agreeing thus with jamaicensis. Female specimens of vlttata were 

 not examined, but it seems probable that the structures described 

 above are of a sexual nature and confined to the male. 



Order FALCONIFORMES 

 Family CATHARTIDAE 



CATHARTES URUBITINGA Pelzeln 



Cathartes Urubutinga Pelzeln, Sitz. Kais. Akad. Wiss., vol. 44, 1861, p. 7. 

 (Sapitiba, Irisanga, and Fort San Joaquim, Brazil.) 



In his account of the Birds of British Guiana, 1916 (p. 211), 

 Chubb takes Cathartes ruficoUis Spix as the name for the yellow- 

 headed vulture, a usage that more recently has been followed by 

 Swann.^'^ On examining the original account of Cathartes rufi- 

 coUis^^ it is found that it is described as having the head red, the 

 wing coverts brownish, and the shafts of the primaries dark, char- 

 acters that indicate that this name refers to Cathartes aura, so that 

 7'uficollis is not available for the yellow-headed bird, which must be 

 known as uruhitinga Pelzeln as above noted. In his original de- 

 scription Pelzeln described uruhitinga on the basis of specimens col- 

 lected by Natterer in Brazil without definite citation of locality. 

 Later ^® he cites nine specimens collected by Natterer at Sapitiba, in 

 the district of Rio Janeiro, Irisanga, near the Rio Mogyguassu in 

 northern Sao Paulo, and Fort San Joaquim, on the Rio Branco in 

 extreme northern Brazil, not far from the frontier of British Guiana. 

 The name uruhitinga, therefore, is based on birds from these three 

 localities. 



B7 Syn. Acclpitres, ed. 2, pt. 1, Sept. 28, 1921, p. 4. 



s^ Spix, Avium Spec Nov. Brasiliam, vol. 1, 1824, p. 2. 



s» Ornith. Brasiliens, 1871, p. 1. 



