DIRKCTOKY TO BIRDS OF EASTKRN NORTH AMERICA. 1 5«5 



b. Square-tailed Vultures. Fig. 187*. 



Catliarista. 



Bill, long and slender ; nostrils, closed 

 by a flap of skin; tail, short and square; 

 breast, feathered. 



1. BLACK VULTURE, C. atrata. 

 26.00; black, including head; space on pri- 

 maries beneath, showing in flight, whitish, figs. 188, 188*. 

 N. C. to Fla. north to the lower Ohio Valley, west to the Great 

 Plains, south to Mexico, some of the West Indies and over 

 most of South America ; casual in N. E. andN. Y. Flight, by 

 alternate flapping and sailing with rapid wing-beats, some- 

 times ascends to a considerable height but moves in compar- 

 atively small circles. Food, largely decaying animal matter. 

 Rather more social than a, 1. 



S. HAWICK, EA01Lili:j^, Et<?. 



Birds of varying sizes with strongly curved and hooked 

 bills; feet, with strong claws capable of grasping. Youngs 

 covered with down when hatched but helpless and fed by 

 their j^arents. Females, larger than males. 



Fig. 188. Fig. 189. Fig. 190. 



R, A, b, 1. 1-12. S, A, b, 1. 1-8. 



K, A, a, 1. 1- 



