46 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
ions as they spread them to the fanning breeze, and be- 
come abandoned to its accidental sports. In South 
America, according to Humboldt, they soar even in com- 
pany with the Condor in his highest flights, rising above 
the snowy summits of the tropical Andes. 
Mr. Waterton is of opinion that this Vulture is not 
truly gregarious, arriving at their food from various 
quarters, and coming singly. It is indeed certain that 
on all other occasions they keep only in pairs. 
The Turkey Vulture is about feet in length, and 6 in breadth. 
Eyes dark or reddish-hazel. The head and neck for about an inch 
and a half below the ears, furnished with a reddish wrinkled skin, 
and some tints of blue, sprinkled with short black hairs. From the 
hind-head to the neck-feathers the space is covered with a black 
down. The fore-part of the neck is bare to the breast-bone. The 
plumage of the neck is large and tumid, and, with that of the back and 
shoulders, nearly black ; almost all the rest of the body is of the same 
color, in parts inclining to brown. 3d primary longest. The wings 
extend to the end of the tail. The upper plumage is generally glossed 
with green and bronze, having purplish reflections. Legs feathered 
to the knees ; the feet somewhat webbed. The bill nearly white, 
often tipped with bright olive green. Weight from 4J to 5 pounds. 
BLACK VULTURE, or ‘ CARRION-CROW.’ 
(Cathartes jota, Bonaparte. Vultur jota, Molina. V. atratus. 
Wilson. Am. Orn. ix. p. 104. pi. 75. f. 2.) 
Spec. Charact. — Black ; neck more feathered above than below; 
wings not extending beyond the tail ; 5th primary longest ; tail 
a little emarginated ; the nostrils linear-oblong, and the head 
black. — - Young , entirely brown. 
This smaller, black, and truly gregarious species of 
Vulture, in the United States, appears to be generally 
confined to the narrowest limits of the Southern states, 
