4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I46 



Range. — Breeds in western North America from southern British 

 Columbia, central Alberta, south-central Saskatchewan, and southern 

 Manitoba south through California (except the lower Colorado 

 River Valley) to southern Baja California, south-central Arizona, 

 south-central New Mexico, and south-central Texas ; east to south- 

 western Minnesota, western Iowa (Audubon), and central Kansas. 



Winters from California and Nebraska southward, moving in 

 migration through Central America in vast flocks: Some continue 

 beyond Panama to South America from Colombia (Santa Marta; 

 Rio Guatipori, 3,000 meters elevation, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa 

 Marta; El Tambo, Cauca), and central Venezuela (Caicara), south 

 to Ecuador (Monji), the Paraguayan Chaco (Orloff), and southern 

 Brazil (Salto Grande, Rio Paranapanema, Sao Paulo). 



Casual in Florida (Merritts Island; Cape Sable). 



Remarks. — Swann, in an early review of the turkey vultures 

 (1921, pp. 3-4) held that the birds of North America, Central 

 America (with the exception of Isla Cozumel), and the West Indies 

 were alike, and, therefore, listed them as Cathartes aura aura (Linn- 

 aeus). He described the Cozumel bird as C. a. insularis on supposed 

 smaller size and also separated the populations of western South 

 America from Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina under the 

 name of Cathartes aura meridionalis, which he listed as "subsp. nov. 

 [nom. nov. Cathartes aura aura (Linn.) ed. 1, et auct. plur. Type 

 loc. sugg. Colombia.]" For this he selected as type a bird in the 

 collections of the British Museum (Natural History). This is a 

 specimen originally in the Salvin and Godman collection, B.M. no. 

 87.5.1.11, cf, taken at Santa Marta "U.S. of Colombia," by F. A. A. 

 Simons, February 27, 1879. A label in small script, written by the 

 collector, with ink that has faded until some words are illegible, reads 

 in part as follows : "No. IV.I Sta Marta Sex rj*. 2 N.V. aura. Con- 

 sidered a great boon to the town, as they keep the place clear of all 

 smelling meat, etc. Flesh about head fine pinky flesh color giving it 

 the appearance from a distance of a fine red head. February 27, 

 1879." 



On examination I have found that this type is an adult bird with 

 light brown edgings on all the wing coverts, and the following meas- 

 urements: Wing 525, tail 266, culmen from base 24.7, tarsus 66.3 

 mm. It is obviously a migrant from North America and as evidently 

 one from the western part of the continent. The name meridionalis 

 Swann must therefore replace the later teter described by Friedmann, 

 who was the first to note that the western race was distinct. It will 



