166 CLASS AVES. 



lids are of a lively red ; the naked portion of" the neck is co- 

 loured by the most agreeable tints : it is carnation on the sides, 

 purple below the head, yellow in front, and a blackish violet 

 near the bands and the wrinkles of the occiput. The iris of 

 the eye, and all the rest of the plumage, are white. Some 

 individuals, supposed to be males, have a weali tint of red over 

 the white of the upper part of the back on one side. The total 

 length is twenty-nine inches and a half; that of the fleshy 

 crest eighteen lines. This description is applicable to a bird 

 of four years of age, complete. 



The differences which this bird exhibits at three years old, 

 consist in some upper coverts of the wings, which are black in 

 the middle of the white. At two years of age, the entire head 

 and the naked part of the neck are black, bordering on violet, 

 with a little yellow over the neck ; all the upper paints are 

 blackish ; so are the lower, but with long and white spots. 

 The black crest falls on neither side, and its extremity only is 

 divided into three very small protuberances. In the first year 

 the bird is altogether of a deep bluish, with the exception of 

 the belly and sides of the crupper, which are white. When 

 the feathers underneath are raised, some white ones are also 

 observable. The tarsus is greenish ; the upper mandible of 

 the beak is of a reddish black, the lower orange, mixed with 

 blackish, Avith long and black spots ; the naked part of the head 

 and neck black, and the iris blackish, as well as the crest, 

 which consists, at this age only, in a solid and fleshy ex- 

 crescence. 



This vulture difiers from the one mentioned by Bartram in 

 his Travels in the southeni parts of North America, though 

 sometimes confounded with it. The tail of the latter is quite 

 white, a colour never found in the vultur papa at any age. 

 As we have mentioned this bird, which is called by Bartram, 

 painted vulture, white-tailed vulture, and vultur sacra, we 

 may as well subjoin a short description. The beak is long and 

 straight to the extremity, where it curves veiy abruptly, and 



