Pseudogryphus californianus. ¼ nat. size.
The single species composing this very distinct genus belongs to Western North America, and, so far as known, has the most restricted distribution of any large raptorial bird in the world. It is remarkable for its very large size, all its dimensions nearly, if not quite, equalling those of the famed Condor of the Andes (Sarcorhamphus gryphus).
Pseudogryphus californianus (Shaw).
CALIFORNIA CONDOR, OR VULTURE.
Vultur californianus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. IV, pl. ccci, 1797; Zoöl. VII, 10, 1809.—Lath. Syn. Supp. II, 3, 1802; Ind. Orn. Supp. 2; Gen. Hist. I, 7.—James. (Wils.) Am. Orn. IV, 259, 1831.—Dougl. Zoöl. Journ. IV, 328; Isis, 1831, 110.—Reich. Prakt. Nat. Vög. p. 18. Cathartes californianus, Cuv. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 316, 1829.—Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 221; Isis, 1832, 1135; List, 1; Consp. Av. 9.—Swains. Classif. B. II, 206, 1837.—Ranz. Elem. di Zool. III, 23.—Gray, Gen. B. sp. 3, pl. ii.—De Kay, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 3, 1844.—Nutt. Man. I, 39, 1833.—Aud. Birds Am. pl. ccccxxvi, 1831; Orn. Biog. V, 240; Synop. p. 2, 1839.—Brew. (Wils.) Synop. p. 832, 1852.—Peale, U. S. Expl. Exp. VIII, 58.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 3, 1855.—Kaup, Thierr. p. 229.—Cassin, Birds N. Am. 1858, 5.—Heerm. P. R. R. Rept. II, 29, 1855.—Newb. P. R. R. Rept. VI, 73, 1857.—Coop. & Suck. XII, ii, 141, 1860.—Coues, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 6, 1866.—Gray, Hand List, I, 3, 1869.—Taylor, Hutchins’s Cala. Mag. III, 1859, 537 (fig. of egg and young).—Gurney, Cat. Rapt. B. 1864, 39.—Sclat. P. Z. S. 1866, 366 (with fig. from life); 1868, 183 (fig. of young from life, same specimen).—Coues, Key, 1872, 222. Catharista californianus, Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. p. 4, 1844. Sarcorhamphus californicus, Steph. Zoöl. XIII, 6, 1815.—Vig. Zoöl. Journ. II, 375.—Rich. & Swains. F. B. A. II, 1, 1831.—Licht. Orn. Calif. p. 8, pl. i. Cathartes vulturinus, Temm. Pl. Col. 31, 1820.—Less. Man. Orn. VII, 10, 1828.
Sp. Char. Wing, 30.00–35.00; tail, 15.00–18.00; culmen, about 1.50; length of head, 6.50–7.00; tarsus, about 4.50–5.00; middle toe, 4.00–4.50; outer, 3.10; inner, 3.60; posterior, 1.10; middle claw (longest), 1.50; posterior (shortest), 1.90. Total length, .45–.50; extent of wings, about 9 or 10 feet.
Adult. Bill yellowish white; naked skin of the head and neck orange and red; iris carmine (authors). General plumage dull black, the upper surface with a faint bluish lustre, the feathers (excepting the primary coverts, secondary coverts, and remiges) passing into dull brownish on their margins, producing a squamate appearance. Scapulars and (more appreciably) the secondaries and their coverts with a hoary grayish cast, the latter white for most of their exposed portions (producing a band across the wing), the white following the edges of the secondaries nearly to their ends; primaries and tail-feathers, with their shafts, uniform deep black. Whole lining of the wing (except the outer border) and axillars pure white. Lower parts continuous dull carbonaceous-black, the tips of the penicillate feathers with a hoary or chalky tinge. (No. 41,649, Monterey, California; Dr. C. A. Canfield. Wing, 32.00; tail, 15.00; culmen, 1.50; depth of bill, 1.20; length of head, 7.00; cere, on top, 2.90; point of bill to anterior end of nostril, 2.50; tarsus, 5.00; middle toe, 4.20.)
Young. Bill dusky; naked skin of the head and neck dusky, and more or less covered with soft, grayish down. Plumage duller black, with the white wholly absent. (No. 41,707, Monterey; C. A. Canfield. Measurements as in the last.)
Localities: Fort Yuma (Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. 1866, 42).
Hab. Pacific Coast region from mouth of the Colorado to the Columbia? Southern Utah (Henshaw).
Habits. This large Vulture, so far as is known, is restricted to the area on the Pacific Coast from the Columbia River to the Colorado, and extending as far to the east as the Sierra Nevada. None are known to have been taken in Mexico, and it very rarely goes north of the Columbia.