Part 4

Cathartes Aura, Turkey-Vulture, Rich. & Swains. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 4.

Turkey-Vulture or Turkey-Buzzard, Nuttal, Man. v. ii. p. 43.

Turkey-Buzzard, Cathartes Aura, Aud. v. ii. p. 296; v. v. p. 339.

3. 3. Cathartes atratus, Wils. Black-headed Turkey-Vulture.--Black Vulture. Carrion Crow.

Plate CVI. Fig. 1. Male. Fig. 2. Female.

Nostrils very large, oblong, occupying the whole nasal cavity; feathers of the neck short, very broad, abruptly rounded, advancing farther on the hind part; skin over the crop feathered; tail even. Adult with the skin of the head and neck corrugated, dusky, the horny part of the bill greyish-yellow, the plumage bluish-black, feet yellowish-grey. Young when fledged with the head and neck closely covered with dusky down; the plumage blackish-brown.

Male, length 26, extent of wings 54.

From Texas to New Jersey. Up the Mississippi to the Ohio. Columbia River. Resident.

Black Vulture or Carrion Crow, Vultur atratus, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. ix. p. 104.

Cathartes Iota, Bonap. Syn. p. 23.

Black Vulture or Carrion Crow, Cathartes Iota, Nuttal, Man. v. i. p. 46.

Black Vulture or Carrion Crow, Aud. v. ii. p. 33; v. v. p. 345.

Cathartes atratus, Black Vulture, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 6.

FAMILY II. FALCONINÆ. FALCONINE BIRDS.

Bill short, stout, cerate; upper mandible with the tip elongated and decurved; lower mandible rounded and thin-edged at the end. Head rather large, broadly ovate, feathered. Eyes large, with prominent superciliary ridges. External aperture of ears of moderate size, and simple. Tarsus longer than the middle toe; claws very large, much curved, extremely acute. Plumage full and generally compact. Wings very long and broad. Œsophagus excessively wide and dilated into a crop; stomach large, somewhat membranous, its muscular fasciculi being placed in a single series; intestine short and rather wide, or very long and slender; cœca extremely small. The young, when fledged, generally having the lower parts longitudinally streaked. Eggs from two to six, ovate, or roundish. Nest on trees, rocks, or the ground.

GENUS I. POLYBORUS, Vieill. CARACARA.

Bill large, high, rather long, much compressed; cere large, covered with hair-like feathers; upper outline convex and declinate to the edge of the cere, then decurved; edge of upper mandible slightly arched and nearly even, tip of lower compressed and rounded. Nostrils elliptical, oblique, in the anterior part of the cere near the ridge. Eyelids and space anterior to the eye denuded, as is the skin over the crop. Feet rather long; tarsi anteriorly scutellate, sharp-edged and scaly behind; toes rather long, broadly scutellate, the first much shorter than the second; claws long, little curved, that of the middle toe being only slightly arched. Wings long, rounded, the third and fourth quills longest, the first five having the inner web cut out. Tail rather long, rounded.

4. 1. Polyborus Braziliensis, Gmel. Brazilian Caracara.--Caracara Eagle.

Plate CLXI. Young.

Adult with the upper part of the head and nape brownish-black, the throat and ear-coverts yellowish-white; the upper parts finely barred with brown and dull white, the rump and tail lighter, the latter with a large terminal brown band; the lower parts similarly barred with reddish-white and brown. Young with the upper part of the head brown, streaked with dusky, the hind neck and part of the breast pale yellowish-red longitudinally variegated with brown; the middle of the back, scapulars, wing-coverts and secondaries dark brown, as are the hind part of the breast and the tibiæ; the tail nearly as in the adult.

Male, 23-1/2, 48.

Texas and Florida. Resident.

Caracara Eagle Polyborus vulgaris, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 350; v. v. p. 351.

GENUS II. BUTEO, Bechst. BUZZARD.

Bill short, with the upper outline nearly straight and declinate to the edge of the cere, then decurved, the sides rapidly sloping, the edges with a slight festoon, the tip trigonal, acute; lower mandible with the dorsal line convex and ascending, the edges arched, at the end deflected, the tip rounded. Head large, roundish, flattened above. Nostrils, obovate, nearer the ridge than the margin. Neck rather short. Body full. Feet short, robust; tarsi roundish, anteriorly feathered half-way down, and scutellate, posteriorly also scutellate; toes of moderate length, scaly for half their length; claws long, arched, compressed, acuminate. Plumage full and rather blended. Space between the bill and eye covered with bristly feathers. Wings long, broad, the fourth quill longest, the first and seventh or eighth about equal; the first four abruptly cut out on the inner web. Tail rather long, broad, slightly rounded. Cere and feet yellow; bill light blue at the base, black at the tip, in all the American species.

5. 1. Buteo Harrisii, Aud. Harris's Buzzard.

Plate CCCXCII. Female.

Bill higher and feet more robust than in the other species. Wings much rounded, the first quill four inches shorter than the fourth, which is longest, the seventh longer than the second. Chocolate-brown; wing-coverts and tibial feathers brownish-red; upper tail-coverts, base and end of tail white.