130 SAECOEHAMPHID^. 



the remaining four. As he went to retrieve such a welcome addition to the pot, then 

 in need of supplies, he was disgusted to find that he had killed four of these Hawks, 

 instead of the game-birds. He concludes : — " When dead they still much resembled 

 Curassows, but were Hawks nevertheless." 



The colour of the soft parts must vary in this species ; those given above are from 

 Mr. Taylor's note, but Mr. Nutting describes his Nicaraguan specimen as follows : — 

 "Iris red J bill in front of cere greenish-yellow, basal half clear light blue; bare 

 part of head deep red ; feet coral-red." 



Fam. SARCORHAMPHID^. 



The members of this family, which includes the South-American Condor and the 

 King and Turkey Vultures, have, until recent years, on account of their bare wattled 

 heads and similarity of habits, been associated in all schemes of classification with the 

 Vultures of the Old World. Garrod, however, considered from certain anatomical 

 points that the Sarcorhamphidse had strong afiinities with the Storks, and placed them 

 between these birds and the Herons. Seebohm went further, and put the American 

 Vultures between the Hornbills and the Steganopodes ; but there is little doubt that 

 the position accorded them by Huxley is the correct one, and that they must be 

 regarded as an aberrant group of the Birds of Prey. In spite of their general 

 resemblance to the true Vultures, they may be distinguished by the perforated nostrils 

 and the structure of the skull, characters which separate them from all other forms of 

 Accipitres. 



We are indebted to Mr. W. P. Py craft for the following diagnostic characters of the 

 Sarcorhamphidee : — " Skull holorhinal; nares pervious; palate indirectly desmognathous, 

 the maxillo-palatines having the form of scroll-like plates, bridged by paired lateral 

 outgrowths from the nasal septum ; lachrymals fused with the frontals and without 

 free posterior horizontal spurs ; basipterygoid processes present ; olfactory chambers 

 of great size ; anterior palatine vacuity very large." 



The Condors (Sarcorhamphus) are strictly Andean and do not occur within our 

 limits, but the King Vulture {Gypagus) and the Turkey Vultures (Catharista and 

 Cathartes) are found in Central America, the latter genera extending into North 

 America. Pseudogryphus has but one representative, the Californian Turkey Vulture 

 (P. californianus), while Cathartes has one species at least peculiar to South America. 



GYPAGUS. 



Gypagus, Vieillot, Anal. p. 21 (1816). 



Gyparchus, Gloger, Hand- u. Hilfsb. Nat. p. 235 (1842). 

 Cathartes, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 22 (1874, ex Illiger). 



The well-known King Vulture is the only representative of the genus Gypagus and 

 is distinguished from Sarcorhamphus by its small size and brighter plumage. The 



