TURKEY VULTURE. 
231 
range of territory, being common* * * § , it is said, from Nova Scotia 
to Terra del Fuego.f How far to tbe northward of North Ca- 
lifornia J they are found, we are not informed ; but it is pro- 
bable that they extend their migrations to the Columbia, allu- 
red thither by the quantity of dead salmon which, at certain 
seasons, line the shores of that river. 
They are numerous in the West India islands, where they are 
said to be far inferior in size to those of North America.”§ 
This leads us to the enquiry, whether or not the present species 
has been confounded, by all the naturalists of Europe, with the 
black vulture, or carrion crow, which is so common in the south- 
ern parts of our continent. If not, why has the latter been 
totally overlooked in the numerous ornithologies and nomen- 
clatures with which the world has been favoured, when it is 
so conspicuous and remarkable, that no stranger visits South 
Carolina, Georgia, or the Spanish provinces, but is immedi- 
ately struck with the novelty of its appearance ? We can find 
no cause for the turkey buzzards of the islands 1| being smaller 
* la the Northern States of our Union, the turkey buzzard is only occasion- 
ally seen. It is considered a rare bird by the inhabitants. 
i" “ Great numbers of a species of vulture, commonly called carrion crow by the 
sailors ( Vultur aura), were seen upon this island, (New-Year’s Island, near Cape 
Horn, lat. 55 S. 67 W.) and probably feed on young seal cubs, which either die 
in the birth, or which they take an opportunity to seize upon.” Cook calls them 
turkey buzzards. Forstei’’s Voyage, ii. p. 516, 4to. London, 1777. We 
strongly suspect that the sailors w ere correct, and that these were black vultures, 
or carrion crows. 
f Perouse saw a bird, which he calls the black vulture, probably the Vultur 
aura, at Monteray Bay, North California Voyage, ii. p. 203. 
§ Pennant, Arctic Zoology. 
II The vulture which Sir Hans Sloane has figured and described, and which he 
says is common in Jamaica, is undoubtedly the Vultur aura. “ The head, and an 
inch in the neck, are bare, and without feathers, of a flesh colour, covered with a 
thin membrane, like that of turkeys, with which the most part of the bill is 
covered likewise ; bill, below the membrane, more than an inch long, whitish at 
the point ; tail, broad, and nine inches long ; legs and feet, three inches long ; it 
flies exactly like a kite, and preys on nothing living ; but when dead, it devours 
their carcasses, whence they are not molested.” — Sloane, Natural History of Ja- 
maica, vol. ii. p. 294', folio. 
