FAMILY VDLTDRINiE 



VULTURINE BIRDS. 



GENUS CATHARTES — ILLIGER 



TURKEY VULTURE. 



[Bill of moderate length, rather slender, somewhat compressed — upper man- 

 dible with its dorsal outline nearly straight, covered to the middle by the cere ; 

 nostrils oval, pervious, naked ; head and upper part of the neck naked ; 

 body heavy ; wings long and broad : tail nearly even, of moderate length ; 

 tarsi short ; claws strong, arched.] 



CATHARTES AURA— LINN. 



TURKEY VULTURE, OR TURKEY BUZZARD. 



Turkey Vulture, or Turkey Buzzard, Vulture aura, Wils. Amer. Orn. 



Cathartes aura, Bonap. Syn. 



Cathartes aura, Turkey Vulture, Sw. & Rich. 



Turkey Vulture, or Turkey Buzzard, Nutt. Man. 



Turkey Buzzard, Cathartes aura, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Characters — Head and upper part of the neck red. 

 Adult with the head and neck red, naked ; nape covered with 

 short, downy feathers ; plumage blackish-brown, deeper on the un- 

 der parts ; feet flesh-color, tinged with yellow. Young with the 

 head and naked part of the neck dull flesh-color ; wing-coverts 

 spotted with dull white; in other respects, same as the adult. 

 Length of adult two feet and a half, wing twenty-one inches and 

 three quarters. 



The Turkey Buzzard, well known in the Southern and Western 

 States, is of rare occurrence in the vicinity of New York. In the 

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