42 Capt. Blakistoa on the Birds of the 



plying a local list, brought up to the present time, of the birds of 

 the interior of British North America, and, as such, I shall feel 

 honoured by its appreciation. 



Order I. ACCIPITRES. 



Cathartes aura. 



In the ' Fauna Boreali- Americana ' a specimen of this Vulture 

 is recorded from the Saskatchawan*. An individual was shot 

 at Red River Settlement on the 27th of April, 1859, which I 

 examined, and I was very sorry that my departure the following 

 day, on a journey to the United States, prevented my preserving 

 it. What adds to the interest of this second capture is, that at 

 that date, it being a late spring, the winter^s snow was covering 

 the ground to the depth of a foot, while the rivers were still 

 ice-bound. Besides this, I observed a Vulture, which I took to 

 be C. aura, at Fort Carlton, near the forks of the Saskatchawan 

 River, in latitude 53°, on the 7th of May, the year previous ; 

 and again on the 2ud of September of the same year, I saw one 

 feeding on the remains of a dead horse, abandoned by some 

 Kootonay Indians, at the western base of the Rocky Mountains, 

 a few miles south of where I had determined the international 

 boundary (the 49th parallel) to exist. Again, I saw many 

 Vultures in the northern part of the State of Minnesota in the 

 early part of the May following ; and there are several specimens 

 in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington 

 from near the 49th parallel. These latter instances, of course, 

 were not on British ground, although very near it. They will not, 

 therefore, swell the number of occurrences in the region treated of 

 in this paper, where the Turkey Buzzard cannot be said to be com- 

 mon. The only part of it, indeed, as far as I can ascertain, 

 that it inhabits is the prairie country thai lies to the south and 

 west of Lake Winipeg, which may be considered as the northern 

 extension of the "high central plains" between the valley of the 

 Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. 



* Saskatchawan is thus spelt, as being most in keeping with the Indian 

 pronunciation of tlie " Strong Current." 



