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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 100 



has been copied and herein included (fig. 50). It will be seen that 

 the name "yellow-headed vulture" is something of a misnomer, and 

 certainly most of the brief descriptions in the literature are misleading. 

 The points of difference between the details of this Venezuelan speci- 

 men from the northern end of the range of the species and those given 

 by Wetmore (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 133, 1926, p. 87) for one from 

 Argentina, in the southern extreme of the range, suggest that a great 

 deal more information of just this sort is needed. 



LIGHT ORANGE 



DARK BLUE-GRAY 



DULL DARK ORANGE 



DULL RED 



LIGHT BLUE WITH 

 GREENISH CAST 



Figure SO.— Head of Cathartes uruhitinga, showing color pattern in life. 



The collector was not aware of the presence of this bird in the 

 study area until October 1948. After that date he found it to be 

 relatively common on the open savanna, outnumbering the Cathartes 

 aura about seven to five during the months of December through 

 March. The species was not recorded over wooded areas, although 

 special effort was made to identify each Cathartes vulture seen. 



The collector found that he was able to identify the present species 

 with relative ease by the somewhat lighter flight and by an indistinct 

 pale area on the upper surface of the wings at the base of the primaries, 

 without the necessity of seeing the color of the head. 



Local names, "olaya" and "oripopo," used indiscriminately for 

 both Cathartes aura and the present species. 



