2034 THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



plumage of a large portion of the upper parts is cream color tending to fawn; the 

 greater wing coverts and quills, together with the lower part of the beak, rump, 

 upper tail coverts and tail, are black, and nearly the whole under surface white 

 with a tinge of cream. Round the neck the feathers are deep gray; the beak is 

 yellowish-horn color, with a brown base; the feet are grayish black, and the iris 

 is white. The female is more soberly colored, having the whole of the upper sur- 

 face dark. 



The king vulture has a more northerly range than the condor, extending from 

 Brazil to Mexico, Texas, and Florida, and also occurring in Trinidad. Reaching 

 in the mountains to an elevation of about five thousand feet, this splendid bird has 

 its true home in primeval forests or well-wooded plains, and it is utterly unknown 

 in dry open districts, or on barren mountains. A comparatively-scarce bird, it 

 roosts at night in low trees, frequently in company, and sallies forth at early 

 dawn in search of carrion and other food. Although the female is known to lay 

 two white, eggs, there is some uncertainty as to the location of the nest. Azara 

 was told by the natives that it was always placed in hollow trees, but this has been 

 doubted by other writers, and Burmeister states that the nest is built high up on a 

 tree, frequently on the very summit of one that is dead and bare. 



The two remaining genera of the New- World vultures are readily 

 American Black,. . , , .. ,, ,. , ,, , . 



v ., distinguished from the preceding ones by the absence of an erect 



wattle on the naked head in both sexes, while they are further char- 

 acterized by the wings being pointed and less than twice the length of the tail, 

 with their primary quills considerably longer than the secondaries. The present 

 species (Catharista atrata), which is the sole representative of its genus, is charac- 

 terized by -the squared extremity of the tail, and by the interval between the tips of 

 the primaries and secondaries being less than the length of the metatarsus. In 

 color the black vulture is a nearly -uniform black, although the shafts of the pri- 

 mary quills are white on both sides, and those of the tail feathers brown above and 

 white beneath. Both the beak and feet are bluish, while the iris is dark brown. 

 The total length is only about twenty -five inches. Its regular range extends from 

 about the northern frontier of Patagonia to North Carolina and Texas, while irreg- 

 ularly, or casually, the bird is found as far north as New York and South Dakota. 

 In the States it is commonly known as the carrion crow. With the exception of the 

 extreme northern portion of its range, the black vulture is a resident species in the 

 districts it frequents; and is far more abundant near the coast than in the interior, 

 in the United States being more numerous than the turkey vulture in the former 

 situations, while it is outnumbered by that bird in the heart of the country. As 

 the habits of this vulture are very similar to those of the turkey vulture, it will 

 suffice to say that these birds are more or less gregarious, frequently breeding in 

 small companies, and making little or no nest for the reception of their two eggs, 

 which appear to be always placed on the ground, either under the protection of low 

 bushes, logs, or rocks, or in perfectly open situations. They rarely breed north of 

 latitude of 39; and in the Southern United States the eggs are laid early in March. 

 The ground color of the eggs is pale-grayish green, upon which are more or less 

 reddish markings. Describing a breeding place of these birds on a small island off 



