192 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Mr. Nelson refers specimens of the Turkey Vulture from the Isle 

 of Pines, Cuba, southern Mexico, and Central America to true aura 

 of Linnaeus, which he distinguishes from the northern form ( C. a. 

 septentrionalis Wied) by its smaller size, narrower and less well- 

 marked brown borders to the feathers of the back, and the usually 

 lighter color of the shafts of the primaries. The Los Indios skin (a 

 female) measures as follows: wing, 495; tail, 245; tarsus, 60. It is 

 appreciably darker and blacker below, especially posteriorly, than any 

 of the northern examples with which I have been able to compare it, 

 and while it has less brown above than the average northern bird, 

 it can be matched very closely by a skin from Colorado. The only 

 other specimen of supposedly true aura at present available is a 

 female from Mamatoco, near Santa Marta, Colombia. This measures 

 as follows: wing, 502; tail, 257; tarsus, 65. It is absolutely the same 

 as northern birds in color, and exceeds several of them in size. Although 

 the series of this species at hand for study is admittedly small, it leaves 

 the impression that the characters relied on to distinguish the two 

 supposed races are too slight and inconstant to justify any such formal 

 separation. At any rate, not one of the individuals measured is as 

 large as those referred to by Mr. Nelson, although several are in fine 

 .fresh plumage. No Brazilian skins have been seen; they are said to 

 be decidedly smaller. 



This is one of the most common and universally distributed large 

 birds of the island. Poey refers at some length to the habits of this 

 vulture as observed on the north coast, and the references above listed 

 will serve as a summary of the numerous published records of later 

 observers. As elsewhere in the tropical regions of the New World, 

 it is numerous in the vicinity of towns and cultivated lands, where it 

 is seldom molested, being valued so highly for its services as a scaven- 

 ger. Mr. Link in the month of June found it frequenting crevices in the 

 rocks near the top of the Casas Mountains, where it was doubtless 

 nesting. 



30. Rostrhamus sociabilis (Vieillot). Everglade Kite. 



Roslrhamus sociabilis Cory, Cat. W. Indian Birds, 1892, 98 (I. of Pines, in geog. 

 distr.). — GuNDLACH, Orn. Cubana, 1895, 14 (I. of Pines). — Bangs & Zappey, 

 Am. Nat., XXXIX, 1905, 191 (Cienaga and Santa Rosalia Lagoon; food). 



" Everglade Kite" Read, I. of Pines News, VI, May 30, 1914 (I. of Pines). 



Gundlach says that this species is very common in the Zapata 

 Swamp in Cuba and in the Isle of Pines. Mr. Zappey found it 



