Birds. 6803 



T/te Sarcoramphus sacer of Bartram, or Sacred Vulture. *' This 

 bird was described by John Jiarlram, in his ' Travels in the Carolinas 

 and Florida' (Philadelphia, 1791), as abundant in Florida then, but 

 has not been observed or identified anywhere since his time. This 

 has tended to throw a doubt on its existence ; but recent information 

 renders it probable that this, or at least a different one from the vul- 

 tures just described, is found about Lake Okechobee, in Southern 

 Florida, where it is called the king buzzard. The verification of this 

 statement by actual specimens would be one of the most important 

 discoveries yet to be made in North American Ornithology. The fol- 

 lowing is Bartram's description : — ' Bill long, and straight almost to 

 the point, where it is hooked or bent suddenly down, and sharp ; the 

 head and neck bare of feathers nearly down to the stomach, when the 

 feathers begin to cover the skin, and soon become long and of a soft 

 texture, forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird, by contracting his 

 neck, can hide that as well as his head ; the bare skin of the neck 

 appears loose and wrinkled, and is of a bright yellow cblour inter- 

 mixed with coral-red ; the hinder part of the neck is nearly covered 

 with short, stiff hairs, and the skin of this part of the neck is of a deep 

 purple colour, gradually becoming red as it approaches the yellow of 

 the sides and fore part. The crown of the head is red ; there are 

 lobed lappets, of a reddish orange colour, which lay on the base of 

 the upper mandible. The plumage of the bird is white or cream- 

 colour, except the quill-feathers of the wings, and two or three rows 

 of the coverts, which are beautiful dark brown ; the tail, which is 

 rather large and white, is tipped with this dark brown, or with black ; 

 the legs and feet are of a clear white ; the eyes are encircled with a 

 gold-coloured iris ; the pupil is black.' " Vide Mr. John Cassin's 

 Notes on the Raptorial Birds, in vol. ix. p. 6, of the ' Pacific Railroad 

 Reports,' published by order of Congress (October, 1858), 1004 quarto 

 pages, and altogether on the birds collected by the railroad and other 

 Government expeditions since 1858. This volume, and the eighth 

 volume of the same work on animals, were compiled by Prof. Spencer 

 F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, and are as much a high honour 

 to the Government which provided the materials, through its laborious 

 and intelligent military and other officers, as they redound to the emi- 

 nent learning, labour, assiduity and honourable name of Baird. But 

 in nothing is Prof. Baird more original than in his plan of these two 

 volumes, — in the fairness, equity, and justice of acknowledging every 

 donor, benefactor or assistant, and in the perspicuity and simpliciiy 

 j of the language. We believe there are no two such books on Natural 



