156 EEPOET OF NEW JEESEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Order RAPTORES. 



Birds of Prey. 

 Family CATHARTID-ffi. 



THE AMERICAN- VULTURES. 



These birds are not closely related to the Vultures of the Old 

 World, which they resemble in habits, but which are more nearly 

 allied to the Hawks and Eagles. 



The Turkey Vulture is a common species in New Jersey, while the 

 Black Vulture is but an accidental straggler. 



a. Wings reaching to or beyond the tip of the tail ; tail rounded. 



TURKEY VULTURE, p. 156 

 era. Wings not reaching beyond the middle of the tail ; tail square. 



BLACK VULTURE, p. 157 



325 Cathartes aura septentrionalis (Wied). 

 Turkey Vulture. 



Adults. Length, 26-32. Wing, 20-23. Plumage, brownish-black; darker 

 on upper surface where feathers are edged with grayish ; in fresh plumage, the 

 black is slightly glossy, but later becomes dull brownish ; head and fore part 

 of neck, red, unfeathered ; bill, white. 



Young in first autumn. Similar, naked skin of head dusky ; bill, blackish. 



Downy young, white, with head dusky gray. 



Nest, none; eggs, two, laid on the ground under an overhanging rock or a 

 fallen tree top, white, coarsely spotted with chocolate and lavender, 2.70 x 1.85. 



Common resident in Southern New Jersey, from Camden and 

 Ocean counties southward, ranging north in summer, more or less 

 regularly, to Sandy Hook (Chapman), 1 Plainfield (Miller), Lebanon, 

 Hunterdon county (S. A. Kram), 2 and Princeton (Babson). 3 Casu- 

 ally farther; Muscontiang Valley, Morris county (Caskey) ; Summit 

 (Hann), and Orange county. 4 



1 Birds Vicinity of N. Y., p. 43. 



2 Abst. Proc. Linn. Soc., N. Y., VIII., p. 4. 



3 Birds of Princeton, p. 46. 



4 Reynolds, Forest and Stream, XVIII., p. 181. 



