34 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [1885 



ON CATHARTES BURROVIANUS. CASSIN, AND C. URUBITINGA, 



PELZELN. 



By ROBERT R1I>«\VA¥. 



In the Bulletin of the JS^uttall Ornithological Club, for April, 1880, iu 

 some " Notes ou the Aiiiericau Vultures (Sarcorhampliidae), with special 

 reference to their geueric nomenclature" (pp. 77-84, inch), I made the 

 following statement (p. 83) respecting the above-named species: — 



" Recent authorities* having almost uniformly ignored the claims of 

 this bird to specific rank, I have, in the absence of any opportunity to 

 examine the type specimen in the Museum of the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy, carefully read Mr. Cassin's original description in order to satisfy 

 myself whether we are justified in the suspicion that Mr. Cassin's sup- 

 posed species was based on a small specimen of C. aura. Upon reading 

 Mr. Cassin's description I was suprised to find how well and unmistak- 

 ably it applied to the bird usually called ' C. urubitinga, Pelz.,' in every 

 particular. In the description, as quoted below, I have italicized the 

 phrases which are strictly and peculiarly diagnostic of G. ^urubitinga,'' 

 in order to show at a glance how certain it is that Cassin's G. burrovi- 

 anus is the same bird. The only question, it appears to me, can be as 

 to the locality, which may be erroneous, since G. urubitinga is not known 

 to occur anywhere out of Eastern South America, though the evidence 

 to this effect, it should be remembered, is purely negative. 



"The earliest notice of this species is that of Brisson (1700), the Vul- 

 tur brasiUensis of this author being unquestionably the same species, 

 as his full and very accurate description clearly shows. Therefore it is 

 quite possible that some author may have a|)j)lied the name brasiUensis 

 to the species under consideration before IMr. Cassin's name burrovianus 

 was bestowed upon it ; in which event the proper specific term would 

 be brasiUensis, and not burrovianus. I cannot find, however, that such 

 use of Brisson's name has been made. It is altogether probable thnt 

 burrovianus will stand. 



"Mr. Cassin's description (Pr. Philad. Acad., March, 1845, p. 212) is 

 as follows : 



"'Head naked, smooth, with the nostrils large and oval; plumage of 

 the body entirely black, with a greenish-blue gloss, paler beneath ; the 

 feathers extend upwards on the back of the neck ; a small bare space on the 

 breast. Wings long, the quills aud tail feathers black, with the shafts 

 of the primaries white and conspicuous ; third primary longest. The 

 smallest American vulture known. 



"'Total length (of skin) 22 inches, bill 2^, wing 18, tail 8J. 



" ' Hab — Kear Vera Cruz. 



*C'on/. Elliot, Illustr. Am. B., ii, 1866; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 1871, 

 p. 311 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Brit. Mns., i, 1874, p. 28 ; Gukney, The Ibis, 1875, p. 94. 



