CATHARTID.E — THE AMERICAN VULTURES. 345 



222. Percnojpterus aura, Steph. Zoul. XIII, pt. ii, p. 7, 1826. Vultur iota, Molin. 

 St. Chil. p. 265, 1782. —Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 247. — Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 20. — L.\th. 

 Gen. Hist. I, 15. Cathartes iota, Bridg. Proc. Zool. Soc. pi. ii, p. 108 ; Ann. Nat. 

 Hist. XIII, 498. Cathartes ruficollis, Spix, Av. Bras. I, 2, 1824 (quote Catesby, pi. 

 vi). Cathartes falklandieus, Shakpe, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 



Sp. Char. Length, about 27.00-30.00; extent of wings, about 6 feet; weight, 4-5 

 pounds. Wing, 20.00-23.00 ; tail, 11.00-12.00. Culmen, about 1.00 ; tarsus, 2.25-2.30 ; 

 middle toe, 2.50; outer, 1.55; inner, 1.25; posterior, .80. Iris umber; tarsi and toes 

 dirty whitish, tinged with yellow or flesh-color. 



Adult. Bill chalk-white ; naked skin of the head and neck livid crimson, approaching 

 dilute carmine on the cere, and sometimes with whitish papilke on the crown and before 

 the eye. General plumage black, this deepest and uniform on the lower parts ; upper 

 parts with a violet lustre, changing to greenish posteriorly, all the feathers of the dorsal 

 region and the wing-coverts passing into brown on its borders. Primaries and tail-feath- 

 ers dull black, their shafts clear pale brown. ^ (Xo. 12,015, Maryland; M. F. Force). 

 Wing, 22.00 ; tail, 12.00 ; culmen, .95 ; tarsus, 2.30 ; middle toe, 2.50 ; outer, 1.55 ; inner, 

 1.25 ; posterior, .30. 9 (No. 49,681, Camp Grant, Arizona ; Dr. E. Palmer). Wing, 20.00 ; 

 tail, 11.50. 



Young. Bill, and naked skin of the head and neck, livid blackish, the occiput and nape 

 with more or less of whitish down. Plumage more uniformly blackish, the brownish 

 borders above less distinct ; the reflections of the plumage rather green than violaceous. 



Hab. Whole of Temperate America ; resident to lat. 3.8° north. 



Localities : Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 213) ; Cuba ? (Cab. Journ. II, Ixxix ; Gundlach, 

 resident) ; Bahamas (Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1859) ; Jamaica (Gosse) ; Ecuador (Scl. Pr. 

 Z. S. 1860, 287) ; Honduras (Scl. Ibis, II, 222) ; Trinidad (Taylor, Ibis, 1864, 78) ; S. 

 Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 322, breeding) ; Arizona (Coues, Prod. 1866, 42) ; Para 

 (Scl. & Salv. 1867, 589). 



After having compared numerous specimens of this species from all parts 

 of its range, including Chile, Patagonia, Terra del Fuego, the West India 

 Islands, and all portions of Middle America and the United States, I am 

 unable to appreciate differences according to locality, and cannot recognize 

 any geographical races. As a rule, the specimens from intertropical regions, 

 as might be expected, are the smallest and most brightly colored. The 

 smallest in the series are those from Lower California. 



Habits. Probably none of the birds of America have so extended a dis- 

 tribution as this Vulture, occurring, as it does, in greater or less abundance 

 from high northern latitudes at the Saskatchewan, throughout North America 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in all portions of South America, even 

 to the Straits of Magellan. On the Atlantic coast it is not common north 

 of Central New Jersey, though occasionally individuals have been seen as 

 far north as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Several specimens have been 

 taken in various parts of New England, from Calais, Me., to Connecticut. 

 Mr. Lawrence cites it as of rare and irregular occurrence near New York. In 

 one instance he noticed a company of nine individuals at Eockaway, Long 

 Island. West of the Alleghanies it lias a much less restricted distribution, 

 from Central America almost to the Arctic regions. It is found more or less 

 frequently in all the Middle, the Southern, Western, and Northwestern 

 States, without an exception. It is met with in large numbers throughout the 



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