I. FAMILY VULTURIDÆ. THE VULTURES.
Head and neck usually naked, and the former frequently more or less carunculated, or with the skin wrinkled; bill, strong, rather lengthened and strongly hooked; claws, usually moderate, and but slightly curved; wings, usually long and powerful. Size, generally large; body, heavy. General structure adapted to the destruction of dead animals exclusively, but a few species do not hesitate to attack young or feeble animals when living.
Inhabit the temperate and the warm regions of the earth, but are much more numerous in the latter. There are about twenty known species of Vultures.
I. GENUS CATHARTES. Illigee Prodromus, p. 236. (1811.)
CATHARISTA. Viellot Analyse, p. 21. (1816.)
Head and upper part of the neck, naked, or partially covered with short downy feathers; the skin of the former generally wrinkled, or with wart-like excrescences. Bill, rather long, straight, curved at the end; nostrils, large, open, and unprotected, inserted near the middle of the bill. Wings, long, third and fourth primaries usually longest; tail, composed of twelve feathers, usually slightly rounded; legs and feet, moderate, rather strong, covered with scales, middle toe long, hind toe shortest; claws, rather strong, moderately curved, obtuse at their points. Colour of all known species, black.
Of this genus, which is peculiar to America, there are seven species; four of which are natives of the northern, and two of the southern portion of this continent, and one of the West Indies. All of them much resemble each other in their habits, and the two South American species are nearly related to similar species of the North, as will be pointed out in descriptions of the latter now to be given. In all its essential characters, this genus differs very little from Sarcoramphus, which includes the Condor and the King Vulture of South America.
A.
1. Cathartes aura. (Linn.) The Turkey Buzzard. The Turkey Vulture. Vultur aura. Linn. Syst. Nat., I. p. 122. (1766.) Cathartes septentrionalis. De Weid Reise, I. p. 162. (1839.)
Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina, I. pl. 6. Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I. pl. 2. Wilson Am. Orn. IX. pl. 75, fig. 1. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 151.