352 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



chusetts and one in the Bay of Fimdy ; but such occurrences are very rare. 

 Along the coast of all the Southern States, from North Carolina to Texas, it 

 is much more abundant than its kindred species, even where, in the interior 

 of the same State, it is far less frequent. Along the banks of the Mississippi 

 and its tributaries, as far as Ohio to the east and Illinois to the north, it is 

 found more or less abundantly at certain seasons. It is met with in several 

 of tlie West India Islands, though rare in Jamaica. It is abundant through- 

 out Central America, and occurs in nearly all parts of South America. Speci- 

 mens were brought from Chile by Lieutenant Gilhss, obtained near Santiago, 

 where it was not common, and only found in the mountainous regiohs of the 

 interior. Darwin fixes its extreme southern limit in latitude 41° south, near 

 the Eio Negro, and he did not meet with any in Chile or Patagonia. 



Mr. E. C. Taylor, in his paper on the Birds of the West Indies, mentions 







Catharista atrata. 



the great abundance of Black Vultures at Port of Spain, in Trinidad. They 

 swarmed over the town, covered the roofs of the houses, and lived on the 

 best terms with the poultry. So tame and familiar were they that lie often 

 poked them with his stick or umbrella as he walked through the streets. At 

 night they roosted in the trees in the gardens and squares of the town. They 

 were very abundant all over Trinidad and in the parts of Venezuela he 

 visited, but he found none in any of the islands from Trinidad to St. Thomas. 

 This species was not found in Jamaica by Mr. Gosse, but Mr. March after- 

 wards reported it as a " recent settler." 



Mr. G. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1860, p. 22) found the Black Vulture very 

 abundant in Honduras, where it is always to be seen in the villages, 

 sitting on the roofs of the houses, wlieeling in flocks high in the air, or 

 feeding on the offal in the streets. They were very tame and very nu- 



