ZOOLOGY. 141 



CATHARTES CALIFORNIANUS, Cuvier. 



The California Vulture* 



Vultur californianus, SHAW, Nat. Misc., pi., 301, (1779.) 

 Vullur columblanus, ORD, Guthrie s Geog., II, 315, (1815.) 

 Cathartes vulturinus, TKMM. Pla. col. I, pi. 31, (1820.) 

 Cathartes californianus, CBVIER, Regne An. ed. IB. 2, p. 316. 

 BAIRD and CASSIN, Gen. Rep. Birds. 



FIGURES. Aud. B. of Am., pi. 411, oct. ed. I, pi 1 ; GRAY, Gen. of Birds, I, pi. 2. 



The largest rapacious bird of North America. Head and neck bare, with a semicrrcular spot of short black feathers at the 

 base of the upper mandible, and a few straggling, short, or hair-like feathers on other parts of the head. Plumage commencing 

 on the neck, near the body, with a ruff of long lanceolate feathers continued on the breast. 



Entire plumage black, lustrous on the upper parts, duller below; secondary quills with a grayish tinge; greater wing coverts 

 tipped with white, forming a transverse band on the wing. Bill yellowish white; iris carmine; head and neck in living bird 

 orange yellow and red. 



Total length, 45 to 50 inches; wing, 30 to 35; tail 15 to 18 inches. 



Hab. Western North America. Spec, in Nat. Mus. Washington, and Mus. Acad. Philadelphia. 



The California!! vulture visits the Columbia river in fall, when its shores are lined with great 

 numbers of dead salmon, on which this and the other vultures, besides crows, ravens, and many 

 quadrupeds, feast for a couple of months. While the expedition was travelling near the upper 

 Columbia, in the fall of 1853, I saw none of this species, though turkey buzzards were common, 

 and I concluded that these did not extend their wanderings eastward of the Cascade mountains. 

 On our return to Vancouver, November 1 8, none were to be seen there, and as the rainy season 

 had set in I supposed they had retired south. In January, 1854, I saw, during a very cold 

 period, a bird which I took for this, from its great size, peculiar flight, and long bare neck, 

 which it stretched out as it sat on a high dead tree, so as to be scarcely mistakable for any other 

 bird. The river being then frozen solid, and the ground covered with snow, it did not appear 

 to admire the scenery and soon started off towards the south. During several voyages on the 

 Columbia, in summer and spring, as well as a long residence near its mouth, I never again saw 

 this bird, and must consider it only a visitor at certain seasons, and not a resident even during 

 summer. Townsend supposed he saw its nests along the Columbia, but did not examine them, 

 and was probably mistaken. I neither saw it nor heard of its occurrence at Puget Sound. C. 



The Californian vulture, according to Nuttall, (see Manual, 2d ed.,) is a summer resident of 

 Oregon; Townsend and Audubon also speak of its occurrence there. It was my misfortune to 

 be absent from the main salmon fisheries at the annual period, when this bird is said to be 

 abundant, and I was therefore unable to obtain, or even see, a single individual. I do not doubt 

 the correctness of Mr. Nuttall s statement, and am pleased to bear testimony to the great 

 general accuracy of his recorded observations concerning the natural history of Oregon. Since 

 his manual was written the old &quot;Territory of Oregon 7 has been divided, and its northern 

 portion, or all that lying north of the Columbia and east of Walla- Walla, of the 46th parallel, 

 now forms the Territory of Washington. The fauna of both Territories is very similar, and, 

 with but few exceptions, the statement that a bird or quadruped is found in one is very pre 

 sumptive evidence that it is, at least, accidental in the other. S. 



