SHUFELDT. ] OSTEOLOGY OF THE CATHARTIDZ. (29 
sists of the following genera and species: First. Sarcorhamphus, con- 
taining S. gryphus, the Condor of the Andes, a bird whose range is so 
well known as not to require any definition from me here. Gyparchus 
papa, the King Vulture, a species which, until recently, was supposed 
never to enter the confines of the United States, but inhabited the sub- 
tropical countries to our southward. Its presence at the present writ- 
ing, however, is strongly suspected in the Territory of Arizona, as refer- 
red to by Dr. Coues in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 
for October, 1881, under General Notes. Third. Pseudogryphus, contain- 
ing the single species P. californianus, the Californian Condor, a huge 
Vulture that is confined to our western coasts and principally to the 
State from which it derives its name. Fourth. Cathartes, containing 
C. aura, C. burrovianus and C. pernigra. The range of the first of these, 
the common Turkey Buzzard, is thus defined by Mr. Ridgway : 
“Probably none of the birds of America have so extended a distri- 
bution as this Vulture, occurring as it does in greater or less abundance 
from high northern latitudes at the Saskatchewan, throughout North 
America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in all portions of South 
America, even to the Straits of Magellan. (Hist. of N. A. Birds; Bd., 
Brewer & Ridw., pp. 345.)” 
From my own experience it can be said that this Vulture was found 
to be quite common during the years 1877-80 throughout the northern 
territorial districts of the United States. 
In April, 1880, Ridgway calls our attention to C. burrovianus and C. 
pernigra in the following words (Nutt. Ornith. Bull., Apr., 1880, p. 83): 
Cathartes burrovianns, Cass.—Recent authorities* having almost uniformly ignored 
the claims of this bird to specific rank, I have, in the absence of any opportunity to 
examine the type specimen in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, carefully 
read Mr. Cassin’s description in order to satisfy myself whether we are justified in the 
suspicion that Mr. Cassin’s supposed species was based on a small specimen of C, aura. 
Upon reading Mr. Cassin’s description I was surprised to find how well and unmis- 
takably it applied tothe bird usually called C. urubitinga Pelz. in every particular. 
In the description, as quoted below, I have italicized the phrases which are strictly 
and peculiarly diagnostic of C. urubitinga, in order to show at a glance how certain it 
is that Cassin’s C. burrovianus is the same bird. The only question, it appears to me, 
can be as to the locality, which may be erroneous, since C. urubitinga is not known to 
occur anywhere out of Eastern South America, though the evidence to this effect, it 
should be remembered, is purely negative. 
The earliest notice of this species is that of Brisson (1760), the Vultur brasiliensis of 
this author being unquestionably the same species, as his fulland very accurate descrip- 
tion clearly shows. ‘Therefore, it is quite possible that some author may have applied 
the name brasiliensis to the species under consideration before Mr. Cassin’s name bur- 
rovianus was bestowed upon it, in which event the proper specific term would be 
brasiliensis, and not burrovianus. I cannot find, however, that such use of Brisson’s 
name has been made. It is altogether probable that burrovianus will stand. 
Mr. Cassin’s description (Pr. Philad. Acad., March, 1845, p. 212) is as follows: 
“Head naked, smooth, with the nostrils large and oval; plumage of the body entirely 
black, with a greenish-blue gloss, paler beneath; the feathers extend upwards on the 
back of the neck; a small bare space on the breast. Wings long, the quills and tail- 
feathers black, with the shafts of the primaries white and conspicuous; third primary 
largest. The smallest American Vulture known. 
“Total length (of skin) 22 inches, bill 24, wing 18, tail 84. 
Hab.—Near Vera Cruz. 
“This species resembles C. aura, Linn., in the shape of the bill and the nostrils, and 
in having the tail rounded, but differs from it not only in size, but the feathers extend 
upwards on the back of the neck and lie flat instead of forming aruff; the plumage of the 
specimen now described is black, none of the feathers having pale margins, as is commonly 
the case in specimens of C. aura; the shafts of the primaries are clear white, and the 
head is more entirely destitute of downy feathers. The tarsi are longer and more 
siender. 
~ * Conf. Elliot, Ilustr. Am. B., II, 1866; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., ii, 1871, p. 
311; Sharpe, Cat. Acc. Brit. Mus., i, 1874, p. 28; Gurney, The Ibis, 1875, p. 94. 
