BLACK VULTURE. 667 
BLACK VULTURE, OR CARRION CROW.— VULTUR JOTA. 
— Fic. 317, 
, Bartram, p. 289. — Gallinazo, Ulloa, Voy. i. p. 52. — Zopilot, Claw ero, Hist. 
Mex. i..p. 47.—Vultur Jota, Molina, Hist. Chili, i. p. 185. — Peale’s Museum, 
No. 13. é 
VOLTUR JOTA. — Bonaparte.* 
Vultur jota, Bonap. Synop. p. 23.— Cathartes atratus, North. Zool. ii. p. 6. 
ALTHOUGH an ‘account of this Vulture was published, more than 
twenty years ago, by Mr. William Bartram, wherein it was distinctly 
specified as a different species from the preceding, yet it excites our 
surprise that the ornithologists should have persisted in confounding 
it with the Turkey Buzzard, — an error which can hardly admit of ex- 
’ tenuation, when it is considered what a respectable authority they had 
for a different opinion. , 
The habits of this species are singular. In the towns and villages 
of the Southern States, particularly Charleston and Georgetown, South 
Carolina, and in Savannah, Georgia, the Carrion Crows may be seen, 
either sauntering about the streets, sunning themselves on the roofs of 
the houses and the fences, or, if the weather be cold, cowering around 
the tops of the chimneys, to enjoy the benefit of the heat, which to 
them is a peculiar gratification. They are protected by law, or usage ; 
* Mr. Swainson, in a note to the description of this bird in the, Northern Zoology, 
remarks, as a, reason for changing the name given by Bonaparte, “ We have not 
considered it expedient to apply to this bird, the scientific name of Jota, given by 
Molina to a Black Vuliure of Chili, because there is no evidence to prove that it is 
the Turkey Buzzard of North America.’”” Neither is there present proof that it is 
not; therefore, we retain Bonaparte’s name. — Ep. 
