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222 CATHAETIDiE, AMEIIICAN VULTURES. GEN. 166. 



166. Genus CATHARTES lUiger. 



^ ' .^^ GaJifornian Vulture. Browuish-black, lustrous above, paler below; 

 secoudary quills gray ; greater coverts tipped with white ; bill whitish ; head 

 and neck orange and red; "iris carmine." Most of the neck, as well as 

 the head, naked, with scattered bristle-like feathers, and a feathered patch 

 at base of the bill ; plumage commencing on the neck, not with a downy 

 ruff, as iu the coudor, but with lengthened lanceolate feathers continued on 

 the breast ; nostrils comparativelj' small ; tail nearly eveu. Youug covered 

 with whitish down. Largest of the genus ; leugth about 4 feet ; extent 9 ; 

 wing 2f ; tail IJ ; thus approaching the coudor in size. Egg white, 

 granular, elliptical, 4J by 2§ inches. General habits the same as those of 

 the following species. Eocky Mountains to the Pacific, U. S. Aud., i, 12, 

 pi. 1 ; NuTT., i, 39 ; ii, 557 ; Cass, iu Bd., 5 ; Coop., 496. califoknianus. 



^ Turheij JBuzzard. Blackish-brown; quills ashy-gray on their under 



surface; head red ; feet flesh-colored ; bill white. Skin of the head corru- 

 gated, sparsely beset with bristlc-like feathers ; plumage commencing in a 

 circle ou the neck; nostrils very large and open; tail rounded. Length 

 about 2J feet; extent 6; wing 2; tail 1. U. S., from Atlantic to Pacihc, 

 and somewhat northward ; abundant in more southern jDortions ; resident as 

 far north as New Jersey. Nests on the ground, or near it, in hollow stumps 

 and logs, generally breeding in communities; eggs commonly two, creamy 

 white, blotched and speckled, 2f by IJ. Wils., ix, pi. 75, f. 1 ; Nutt., i, 



43; Aud., i, 15, pi. 2; Cass, in Be, 4; Coop., 503 auka. 



'■">»'*' Oarrion Oroiv. Blackish; quills very pale, almost whitish, on the under 

 surface ; head dusky ; bill and feet gra\'ish-yellow. Skin of the head as iu 

 the last species, but plumage running up the back of the neck to a point on 

 the hind head ; nostrils as before ; tail square. Smaller than aura, iu linear 

 dimensions, but a heavier bird; length about 2 feet; wing 1 J ; tail §. The 

 diflerence in size and shape between this species aud aura is strikingly dis- 

 played when the birds are flying together, as constantly occurs in the South- 

 ern States ; there is also a radical diflerence iu the mode of flight, this species 

 never sailing for any distance without flapping the wings. Nesting the same : 

 eggs similar, but larger, or at any rate more elongate; 3^ by 2. Chiefly 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States, there very numerous, far outnumbering the 

 turkey buzzard, and semi-domesticated iu the towns ; N. regularh' to North 

 Carolina, thence straggling eveir to Massachusetts (JiUson ; Putnam, Proc. 

 Essex Inst. 1856, 223) and Maine (Boaedman, Am. Nat. iii, 498) ; Ohio 

 (Audubon) ; not authenticated on the Pacific Coast. AVils., ix, pi. 75, 

 f. 2 ; Nutt., i, 46 ; Aud., i, 17, pi. 3 ; Cass, in Bd., 5. . . atkatus. 



Obs. 0. barrovianus Cass, iu Bd., 6; Elliot, pi. 3G, a doubtful species, is 

 said to inhabit Lower California. From various accounts, it seems probable that 

 the king vulture reallj^ occurs ou our southern border, but this remauis to be deter- 

 mined. See Bartkam, Travels iu Florida, p. 150 ; Cassin iu Bd., p. C ; Cooes, 

 Proc. Phila. Acad. 186G, p. 49 ; Allen, Bull. Mas. Comp. Zool. ii, 1871, p. 313. 



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