138 Zoological Society. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



February 11, 1851.— William Yarrell, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Notes on the Raptorial Birds of British Guiana. 

 By Dr. G. R. Bonyan. 



There are, I believe, only three species of Vulture in British Gui- 

 ana. The first is the well-known 



King of the Vultures. 



Sarcorhamphus Papa of Dumeril. — Iruhicha, Azara. — Vultur 

 Papa, Linn. — Le Roi des Vautours, Cuv. — Carrion Crow Governor 

 of negroes. 



There is a very good drawing of this bird in Latham's 'General Hi- 

 story of Birds.' It is by no means common in Demerara, but young 

 birds are occasionally brought from the upper rivers, particularly 

 the upper parts of the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks, where they 

 abound, to the town. They are easily tamed and eat any sort of 

 meat, not showing a particular predilection to putrid meat. Although 

 I have seen this bird in its wild state, I have never witnessed it alight- 

 ing upon a carcase ; the common Carrion Crows, it is said, cede place 

 until the king has fed. Mr. Waterton witnessed this singular fact, 

 and I have heard it corroborated by more than one person of veracity. 

 I know nothing of its habits or nidification. The colours about the 

 head and neck are remarkably beautiful and varied, and have a downy 

 bloom as it were, which it is impossible to imitate by painting the 

 preserved specimen. 



The Common Carrion Crow. Cathartes iota. 



If this bird be the same as " Vultur iota " of Charles Bonaparte, 

 it is imperfectly described by Cuvier as having only the head naked ; 

 whereas it has the head and the neck more than half way down, 

 naked, warty and black ; nor is its plumage of a shining black, but 

 dull and inky. The Carrion Crow is seen over the whole surface of 

 the country, either soaring on diy sunny days at an immense height 

 in the air, or swooping down in wide gyrations towards the ground. 

 If a carcase be thrown out on a dam, no Carrion Crow being within 

 the range of vision, after a short time one will be seen in a distant 

 part of the horizon ; presently another will appear ; then another and 

 another, until they will be observed coming from all quarters ; not, 

 however, in a direct line towards the object, but in more or less ex- 

 tensive gyrations. There can be no doubt that the first Carrion Crow 

 that sees the object, by an increased energetic quickness of its flight, 

 gives notice to those which are within its sphere of vision that there 

 is game in view, which accounts satisfactorily enough for the vast 

 number of these birds which are collected from every quarter of the 

 horizon in so short a time after a dead body is exposed. Indeed, to 

 the eye of the common observer, the difierence of motion of a Vultur 

 iota on the look-out, and after it has sighted its quarry, is very re- 

 markable. The former is a slow, steady and gentle soar, in small 



