BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



65 



a motion of its long wings, except when struggling against adverse currents 

 of air. It nests upon the ground in a secluded spot. The eggs are one 

 to three in number, nearly plain or spotted with chocolate, 2.8 by 2 

 inches in size. Its food consists almost entirely of carrion, and in the 

 South it is considered of great value as a scavenger. 



Catharista urubu (Meillot) 

 Black Vulture 



V u 1 t u r It r u b u Vieillot. Ois. Amer. 



Sept. 1807. 1 : 23. pi. 2 

 Catharista urubu A. O. U. Check 



List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 153. No. 326 

 catharista, Or. xaGapflw (xaGat'pw) to 

 cleanse or purify, referring to its work as a 

 scavenger; urubu, a vulture 



Description. Glossy black, the 

 tinder surface of the wings frosted or 

 silvery, giving a distinctly whitish 

 sheen to wing quills as the bird flies 

 overhead; head and neck bare, black- 

 ish in color. Decidedly more stumpy 

 in build and less graceful in flight 

 than the Turkey vulture, the tail 

 7ioticeably shorter and the wing strokes 

 more frequent. 



Length 24 inches; extent 55; 

 wing 17. 



Distribution. The Black vult- 

 ure, or Carrion crow as it is some- 

 times called, inhabits America from 

 Kansas and Virginia southward 

 through Mexico and Central America 

 and the greater part of South America, and wanders northward rarely as far 

 as Maine, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ohio. There are records of two or 

 three specimens taken in New York, near Sandy Hook in the spring of 

 1877 (Robt. Lawrence, N. O. C. Bui. 5: 116), Coney Island beach, about 

 5 



Black vulture. Catharista urubu (Vieillot). From 

 specimen in Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. J nat. size 



