6 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



the sixth, but considerably longer than the seventh. The inner webs of the first four quill 

 feathers are narrowed or sinuated from near their middles ; and the outer webs, from the 

 second to the fifth inclusive, are also narrowed. The tail is rounded, the exterior feathers 

 being an inch and a half shorter than the middle ones. The tarsi are naked, strong, and not 

 very long, and are covered with small rounded convex scales. The toes are long, particularly the 

 middle one, which is covered above to the base by transverse shield-shaped scales ; the first 

 phalanx of the outer toe is reticulated ; the lateral toes are nearly equal to each other in 

 length, and more than an inch shorter than the middle one, to the first phalanx of which 

 they are connected by webs, the outer web being most conspicuous. The posterior toe is 

 more slender and shorter than any of the anterior ones. The nails are moderately strong, 

 short, and slightly curved. 



Dimensions. 



Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. 



Length from the point of the bill to the end of to the tip of the bill, in a straight 



the tail . . . . 31 line . . . .23 



of the bill from the angle of the mouth 2 3 Length of the longest quill feather . .17 



of the bill, measured along its ridge . 2 (J „ of the tarsus . . ..26 



of the horny tip of the bill . .10 ,, of the middle toe and its claw . . 3 3 



of the long diameter of the nostrils .06 ,, of the claw alone . ..09 



from the anterior margin of the orbit, ,, of the hind-toe and claw . .12 



[3.] 2. Cathartes atratus. (Nobis.) Black Vulture. 



Genus. Cathartes. Tlligeu. 



Black Vulture, or Carrion Crow (Vultur Atratus). Wilson, ix., p. 104, pi. 75> fig. 2. 



Cathartes Iota*. Bonapahte, Syn. p. 22, sp. 5. 



L'Urubu. (Sub-genus, Les Percnopteres.) Cuvier. Regn.An.,\., p. 317- 



Carrion Crow. United States. 



I did not meet with this bird, nor have I seen specimens of it brought from 

 the districts to which this work is confined ; but it is introduced here on the 

 authority of Mr. David Doug-las, who says, — " Throughout the whole of the 

 country that I visited to the west of the Rocky Mountains, the Black Vulture was, 

 I might say, daily seen. In the upper countries around Spokan, Oakanagan, and 

 on Lewis and Clark's River, the plains of the Multnomah, and at Puget Sound, 

 near camps or Indian villages, on the banks of rivers abounding with fish, or in 



* We have not considered it expedient to apply to this bird the specific name of Iota, given by Mollina to a Black 

 Vulture of Chili. In the first place, there is no evidence to prove that it is the same as the Turkey-Buzzard of North 

 America ; and secondly, it must be remembered that the work of this author was "fait de mimoire en Italie, etfort 

 suspect en plusieurs endroits." (Cuviek, Reg. An., iv., p. 143.) Sw. 



