RAP 'J^ 11 E S. 



79 



3. Sarcoramphus sacer (Bartnini). — The Sacred Vulture. 



■ Vultu7- sac)-a, Bartram, Travels in Florida, p. 150 (1791).* 



Not figured. 



Original Description. — " The hill is long and straight, almost to 

 the point, where it is hooked or hent suddenly down, and sharp. The 

 head and neck are bare of feathers nearly down to the stomach, when 

 the feathers begin to cover the skin, and soon become long and of a 

 soft texture, forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird, by contract- 

 ing his neck, can hide that as well as his head. The bare skin on the 

 neck appears loose and wrinkled, and is of a bright-yellow color, inter- 

 mixed with coral-red ; the hinder part of the neck is nearly covered 

 with short stiff hair, and the skin of this part of the neck is of a 

 purple-dun color, gradually becoming red as it approaches the yellow 

 of the sides and forepart. The crown of the head is red ; there are 

 lobed lappets of a reddish-orange color, which lay on the base of the 

 upper mandible. The plumage of the bird is generally white or cream 

 color, except the quill-feathers of the wings and two or three rows of 



* William Bartram; not to be confounded with his father, John Bartram, who also 

 travelled in Florida. The following are the titles of their works which relate to that 

 country : 



1. John Bartram. "A Description of East Florida, with a Journal kept by John Bar- 

 tram, of Philadelphia, Botanist to His Majesty for the Floridas, upon a Journey from 

 St. Augustine up the Biver St. Johns as far as the Lakes. With explanatory Bota- 

 nical Notes." Quarto, Third Edition, London, 1769. AVe have never seen neither 

 the first nor second edition. The Journal commences at St. Augustine, December 19th, 

 1765, and contains botanical notes of value. This author and traveller, of high repu- 

 tation as a botanist and one of the fathers of American Natural History, was the 

 founder of the Botanical Garden on the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia. 



2. William Bartram. "Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and 

 West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or 

 Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Choctaws ; containing an Account of the 

 Soil and Natural Productions of those Regions, together with Observations on the 

 Manners of the Indians. By William Bartram." Octavo, Philadelphia, 1791. 



This volume contains a large amount of information on nearly all departments of 

 Natural History, and is almost indispensable to the American botanist or zoologist. 

 One other point has made the name of William Bartram illustrious: he was the especial 

 friend and patron of Alexander Wilson, the greatest of American Ornithologists. 



