730 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 
“The head of C. burrovianus is quite smooth, in which, as in other respects, it is 
very different from C. atratus, Wilson. 
“This new species was obtained in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, by the late M. Bur- 
rough, M. D., in honor of whom I have named it, as a slight acknowledgment for his - 
very valuable services to natural history and to this academy.” 
Cathartes pernigra, Sharpe.—A specimen of this species is in the Maximilian collec- 
tion, at the American Museum, New York. It appears quite distinct from both C. 
aura and CO. burrovianus, being, in fact, somewhat intermediate between the two. In 
size itis nearly, if not quite, equal to C. aura, and, like the latter, has the nape en- 
tirely bare of feathers, the plumage commencing abruptly about half way down the 
neck. The shafts of the primaries are a lighter brown than in C. aura, but not so 
white as in burrovianus. In regard to the plumage, however, there is a much closer re--. 
semblance to C. burrovianus, the back and wings being wholly black, like the lower 
parts, without a trace of the light-brownish borders to the feathers, so conspicuous in 
aura. The black is also much less glossy than in the latter. 
The specimen (male) is, unfortunately, not quite adult, the bill being partly black- 
ish, and the nape covered with a soft dusky down. The measurements are as follows: 
Wing, 20.00; tail, 12.00; culmen (chord of the arch), .85; tarsus, 2.50; middle toe, 
2.40. 
The bill and feet appear more slender than those of C. aura. 
In conversation with Mr. Ridgway at the present date (November 
12, 1881) we find him still adhering to the views he so clearly set torth 
in the Bulletin the year before, still declaring that C. burrovianus and 
C. pernigra are both “ good species.” 
We had the opportunity to examine a mounted specimen of the former 
in the cabinet of Vultures at the Smithsonian Institution on the same 
day, and must agree with Mr. Ridgway, that as far as external charac- 
ters are concerned, as compared with aura, the birds certainly appear 
distinct. We observed the additional fact that the nostrils in burrovi- 
anus were far more pervious than those in aura even 
A specimen of C. pernigra we never have had the good fortune to 
examine; in fact, both of these Vultures are uncommonly rare in col- 
lections, and the writer has thus intentionally taken the pains to bring 
out all of the data that he has at his command bearing upon these two 
birds, as he must here confess to his reader that it has been found im- 
possible to secure a skeleton of 
a either burrovianus or pernigra, 
Oo a so that the characteristics of the 
3 genus Cathartes must be drawn 
i trom its common representative, 
aura. We do not know of a 
skeleton of either burrovianus or 
| pernigra being in any of the oste- 
ological cabinets in the United 
States, and it must beleft to some 
more fortunate ornithotomist to 
compare the osteological charac- 
ters of these two birds, with what 
the author hopes to bring out in 
regard to the genus in which 
have been placed, from their 
northern representative. 
Fourth, and lastly, we have the genus Catharista, containing the single 
species C. atrata, the Carrion Crow, or Black Vulture. This bird is con- 
fined more or less to our Southern States, inhabiting particularly the 
inaritime districts, and to various localities in South America, its habits 
and tastes always being those of a true Vulture, which itis. It will be 
remembered that for a long time many authors placed all of our North 
American Vultures in the one genus Cathartes; the group containing, 
EAA EE 
Yip 
LEE 
ZS LEZ A tion 
Pseudogryphus californanus. 
