154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



in the vast extent of the Tropics. Four of the seven kinds are known 

 from Panama, where they are seen so constantly that often they 

 attract little attention. Three, the Gallinazo, the Noneca, and the 

 Cacicon are readily recognized, while the fourth, the Guala is usually 

 confused with the Noneca because of general similarity in form in 

 these two species. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF CATHARTIDAE 



1. Larger ; head relatively short and heavy ; commissure shorter, with the 



posterior angle of mouth located below, or very slightly behind, the nostril ; 

 bill shorter, not more than two-thirds the length of the head; eye light 

 colored, yellowish white in adult, grayish white in immature. 



King vulture, Sarcoramphus papa, p. 154 



Smaller; head relatively longer and more slender; commissure much longer 



in relation to the rest of the head, with the posterior angle of the mouth 



located farther back, almost beneath the eye; bill longer than the head; 



eye dark, reddish brown, or brown 2 



2. Tail square ended ; legs longer, feet extending beyond end of tail when bird is 



flying ; head completely black in life. 



Black vulture, Coragyps atratus, p. 157 



Tail rounded ; legs shorter, feet not reaching end of tail during flight ; head 



red or orange in life 3 



3. With small but prominent wartlike processes on sides of neck; head mainly 



orange, yellow and blue in life. 



Yellow-headed vulture, Cathartes burrovianus, p. 168 

 Sides of neck smooth, head mainly red in life. 



Turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, p. 161 



SARCORAMPHUS PAPA (Linnaeus): King Vulture; Rey Gallinazo 



Figure 30 

 VulturPapa Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 86. (Surinam.) 



Largest of the vultures found in Panama; adult, white with black 

 wings ; immature at a distance appears wholly black. 



Description. — Length 710 to 810 mm. Adult, head and neck bare, 

 except for a pattern of black hairlike feathers on head ; a conspicuous, 

 irregularly lobed caruncle on cere ; bare skin of head, upper neck, and 

 crop, variegated with yellow, orange, and black ; a dark gray ruff 

 around lower neck; flight feathers, rump, and tail black; elsewhere 

 white with a buffy tinge on back and shoulders. 



Immature, caruncle on bill small, often not developed ; plumage 

 throughout blackish brown, with increasing age gradually becoming 

 white on breast and abdomen. 



Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p. 

 2)7) gives the following description of the soft parts in an adult: 

 "Nape (greatly thickened and wrinkled skin) yellow ; posterior auric- 

 ular region flesh color washed with purplish red; sides of throat 



