OF ORNITHOLOGY 93 



characters are so individual as to place it justly by itself, and 

 and yet none of them seem to exactly resemble those of the 

 other groups above alluded to. It is a family hard to define 

 precisely, and yet a glimpse of the bird is sufficient to fix it 

 at once in the memory. There is but a single genus and a 

 single species common, at least in North America. 



■Genus, Pandion, The Fish Hawk or Osprey. 



Though placed between the Falconid.e on the one hand and Cathartid^e 

 on the other, they can in no way be called a link between the two, as Pan- 

 dion differs materially from any form of either. 



FAMILY XXXII CATHARTIDAE THE 

 VULTURES 



Greek katharten, " one who purifies." 



The American representatives of this family are not diffi- 

 cult to determine or to characterize. Their peculiar form and 

 shape makes them at once conspicuous and easy of recogni- 

 tion. There being no necessity in America for sub-family di- 

 visions, and but a limited number of genera and species, the 

 family characters will be the same as those enumerated under 

 the SUB-ORDEE heading on page 29. The fact that they feed 

 ■exclusively, or nearly so, upon carrion, however, would not 

 of itself prevent a strictly scientific or technical difference ; 

 it would be rather a peculidrifi/ of the species. The bare space 

 on the head and neck ; the curiously-shaped bill — long and 

 weak and hooked at tip ; large nostrils ; and strong, long, and 

 wide wings ; are enough to determine the family wherever it 

 may be found. 



Genera, Pseudogryphus, The California Condor. 

 Cathartes, The Turkey Buzzard. 

 Catharisia, The Black Vulture, Carrion Crow. 



Vuliur was formerly a generic equivalent for all of the above names, but 

 it is now seldom employed. 



It is strange if these three species of Vultures, without va- 

 rieties, be all that occur Avithin our borders. One or two ad- 

 ditional species (or varieties) maij yet be found on our South- 

 w^estern borders, but they are still unrecognized. 



