55 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



differences between the two species seem constant, it appears that C. falk- 

 landicus is not more divergent from the rest of the Turkey Buzzard stock 

 of North and South America than are the many geographical races dis- 

 tinguishing forms of birds that have a wide geographic distribution. But 

 at the time of the present work not enough light has been shed on this 

 particular problem to warrant any change from the present accepted status 

 of the two birds. Dr. Sharpe believes the two forms to be distinct, while 

 on the other hand Mr. Ridgway does not even accord to the birds from 

 the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands any difference in position, 

 including all under the true C. aura. 



So much has been written of this vulture that it hardly seems essential 

 to do more than refer to the citations preceding the description ; however, 

 a few salient notes are given below. Mr. Barrows writes : "I am not sure 

 that I ever saw Cathartes aura, not being familiar with its appearance on 

 the wing, but I find the following in my note-book, under date of March 

 4, 1 880, while camped at the foot of the Sierra de Ventana. 



"Several times since camping here I have seen a very large bird which 

 seems to me larger in the body than the common eagle (G. melanoleucus] 

 and with a very long tail. They hunt over the mountains as well as over 

 the level ground and rise in spirals nearly as well as Halicetus. I 

 remember that when attacked by a pair of the latter, which probably had 

 an eyrie among the crags near by, they soon distanced them by rising in 

 spirals, though both species did considerable flapping before the eagles 

 abandoned the pursuit. I thought at the time, and am still inclined to 

 believe, that this bird was Cathartes aura!' (Barrows, Birds of the Lower 

 Uruguay, Auk, I, p. 113, foot-note, 1884.) 



Hudson does not consider the Turkey Buzzard as a common bird in that 

 part of Patagonia where the whole fauna had been revealed to him by 

 years of study. Mr. Hatcher did not find the bird or record it in the course 

 of his investigations. 



Darwin writes : "The turkey buzzard, as it is generally called in English, 

 may be recognized at a great distance from its lofty soaring and most 

 graceful flight. It is generally solitary, or, at most, sweeps over the 

 country in pairs. In Tierra del Fuego, and on the coast of Patagonia, it 

 must live exclusively on what the sea throws up, and on dead seals; 

 wherever these animals in herds were sleeping on the beach, this vulture 

 might be seen, patiently standing on some neighboring rock." (Zool. 

 Voy. Beagle, Birds, p. 8, 1841.) 



