78 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



2. Sarcoramphtjs papa {Linnaeus). — The King Yulture. 



Yiiltur papa, LiNN. Syst. Nat. I, p. 122 (176G). 



Buflfon, PI. Enl. 428 ; Vieillot, Gal. des Ois. I, Plate III ; Spix, Av. 

 Bras. I, Plate I ; Le Vaill. Ois. d'Afrique, I, Plate XIII ; Hayes, 

 Osterlj Menagerie, I, Plate 11. 



Head and upper part of neck naked ; the former with an elevated 

 and conspicuous caruncle, arising from the base of the bill. Wings 

 and tail glossj-black ; plumage on the neck dusky-cinereous ; all other 

 parts fine pale fulvous. Naked space of the head and neck red and 

 orange ; bill pale-yellow. 



Total length about twenty-eight inches; wing eighteen inches ; tail 

 nine inches. 



Hab. — South and Central America. Mexico. Specimen in Mus. 

 Acad. Philadelphia. 



Obs. — This is the only bird of the family of vultures which may be 

 considered as possessing beauty of plumage, and is one of the best 

 known species of the rapacious birds of South America. It inhabits 

 also the whole of Central America, being almost invariably sent in 

 collections from any locality in that portion of this continent. Her- 

 nandez gives this bird as an inhabitant of Mexico, and describes it 

 accurately under the euphonious native name of " Cozcaquauhtli" 

 (Nova Plantarum, Animalium, et Mineralium Mexicanorum, Historia ; 

 Rome, 1651, folio, p. 319). No late author, however, has given it as 

 a bird of Mexico, nor has it ever been observed as yet within the 

 limits of the United States, unless it is identical with the species 

 immediately succeeding ; or, whether it is or not, it is quite possible 

 that this bird is, at least, an occasional visitant to Florida, being nu- 

 merous in Central America. 



Like the condor, and indeed all the American vultures, the present 

 bird is easily tamed, though it does not appear to show the partiality 

 for the abodes of men possessed by some species of this group of birds. 



