8 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
than in the southern half of the continent. These vultures certainly are 
gregarious ; for they seem to have pleasure in each other’s society, and are not 
solely brought together by the attraction of a common prey. On a fine day, 
a flock may often be seen at a great height ; each bird wheeling round and 
round in the most graceful evolutions. This is evidently done for their sport ; 
or, perhaps, is connected (for a similar habit may sometimes be observed dur- 
ing the breeding season amongst our common rooks) with their matrimonial 
alliances. 
2. Cathartes aura. Illi . 
Vultur aura, Linn. 
— , Jar dines Wilson , vol. iii. p. 226. 
Vultur jota, Molina , Compendio de la Hist, del Rcyno de Chile, vol i. p. 296. 
Turkey-buzzard and Carrion Crow of the English in America. 
This bird has a wide geographical range, being found from 55° S. to Nova 
Scotia (according to Wilson, in Jardine’s edition, vol. iii. p. 231,) in 45° N. ; 
or exactly one hundred degrees of latitude. Its lesser range in Northern than 
in Southern America is probably due to the more excessive nature of the climate 
in the former hemisphere. It is said to be partly migatory during winter, in the 
Northern and even in the Middle States, and likewise on the shores of the Pacific. 
The C. aura is found in the extreme parts of Tierra del Fuego, and on the 
indented coast, covered with thick forests, of West Patagonia, (but not on the 
arid plains of Eastern Patagonia,) in Chile, where it is called Jote, in Peru, in 
the West Indies ; and, according to Wilson, it remains even during winter, in 
New Jersey and Delaware, latitude 40°. It and one of the family of Polyborinse 
are the only two carrion-feeding hawks, which have found their way to the 
Falkland Islands. The Turkey buzzard, as it is generally called by the English, 
may be recognized at a great distance from its lofty, soaring and most graceful 
flight. It is generally solitary, or, at most, sweeps over the country in pairs. 
In Tierra del Fuego, and on the west coast of Patagonia, it must live exclusively 
on what the sea throws up, and on dead seals : wherever these animals in 
herds were sleeping on the beach, there this vulture might be seen, patiently 
standing on some neighbouring rock. At the Falkland Islands it was tolerably 
common ; but sometimes there would not be a single one near the settlement for 
several days together, and then many would suddenly appear. They were 
usually shy ; a disposition which is remarkable, as being different from that 
of almost every other bird in this Archipelago. May we infer from this 
that they are migratory, like those of the northern hemisphere ? In a female 
specimen killed there, the skin of the head was intermediate in colour between 
