Species.

Common Characters. General plumage nearly uniform blackish; no white. Adult. Bill white; head reddish. Young. Bill and head dusky, or blackish.

1. R. aura. Upper half of the neck bare all round. Feathers of the upper surface with brown borders. Wing, 20.00–23.00; tail, about 12.00. Hab. Entire continent and islands of America, except the colder portions.

2. R. burrovianus.[98] Only the head and throat naked, the feathers of the neck extending up to the occiput. Feathers of the upper surface without brown borders. Wing, 18.00–18.50; tail, 9.00. Hab. Eastern Tropical America (Brazil; Eastern Mexico??).

Rhinogryphus aura (Linn.).
TURKEY-BUZZARD; RED-HEADED VULTURE.

Vultur aura, Linn. Syst. Nat. 122, 1766.—Gmel. Syst. Nat. 246, 1789.—Lath. Syn. I, 9; Syn. Supp. I, 2; Ind. Orn. 4.—Gen. Hist. I, 12, pl. iii.—Penn. Arct. Zoöl. I, 221.—Bart. Trav. Carol. p. 285.—Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. ii.—Ord (Wils.) Am. Orn. pl. lxxv, f. 1.—Aud. Edin. New. Phil. Journ. II, 172.—Darw. Journ. Res. p. 68.—Wagl. Isis, 1831, 517.—Shaw, Zoöl. VII, 36.—Sells, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. pt. v, p. 33; Mag. Nat. Ser. 2, I, 638.—Ledru, Voy. Ténérif. Trinit. etc. II, 264. Cathartes aura, Illig. Prod. Syst. 236, 1811.—Cuv. Règ. An. (ed. 1), 308; (ed. 2) I, 317.—Spix, Av. Bras. I, 2.—Vig. Zoöl. Journ.—Less. Man. Orn. I, 73; Tr. Orn. p. 28.—Bonap. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 23; Isis, 1832, p. 1135; List Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 1.—Rich. & Swains. F. B. A. II, 4.—Jard. (Wils.) Am. Orn. I, 3; IV, 245.—Brewer (Wils.) Synop. p. 682.—Ib. N. A. Oölogy.—Aud. Birds Am. pl. cli; Orn. Biog. II, 339; Synop. Birds Am. p. 2.—Nutt. Man. I, 43.—Swains. Classif. B. II, 205.—Darw. Zool. Beag. pt. iii, p. 8.—Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 2; List B. Brit. Mus. p. 3; List Gen. & Subgen. Brit. Mus. p. 2.—De Kay, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 2, pl. v, f. 12.—Gosse, Birds Jam. 1.—Peale, U. S. Expl. Exp. VIII, 58.—Reichenb. Prakt. Nat. Vög. p. 26.—Kerr, Transl. Gmel. II, 472.—Max. Beit. III, 64.—Rich. (Schomb.) Faun. Brit. Guiana, p. 742.—Cab. (Tschudi) Av. Consp. Wieg. Archiv, 1844, 262; Faun. Per. Orn. p. 71.—D’Orb. Synop. Av. Mag. Zoöl. p. 2; Voy. Am. Merid. Ois. p. 38 (R. Sagra); Hist. Nat. Cuba Ois. p. 4.—Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 63.—Hartl. Syst. Ind. Azar. Pax. p. 1.—Max. Cab. Journ. VI, 1858, 2.—Gurney, Cat. Rapt. B. 1864, 42.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 322 (Texas).—Coues, Key, 1872, 222. Percnopterus aura, Steph. Zoöl. XIII, pt. ii, p. 7, 1826. Vultur iota, Molin. St. Chil. p. 265, 1782.—Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 247.—Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 20.—Lath. Gen. Hist. I, 15. Cathartes iota, Bridg. Proc. Zoöl. Soc. pl. ii, p. 108; Ann. Nat. Hist. XIII, 498. Cathartes ruficollis, Spix, Av. Bras. I, 2, 1824 (quote Catesby, pl. vi). Cathartes falklandicus, Sharpe, Ann. & Mag. N. H.

Sp. Char. Length, about 27.00–30.00; extent of wings, about 6 feet; weight, 4–5 pounds. Wing, 20.00–23.00; tail, 11.00–12.00. Culmen, about 1.00; tarsus, 2.25–2.30; middle toe, 2.50; outer, 1.55; inner, 1.25; posterior, .80. Iris umber; tarsi and toes dirty whitish, tinged with yellow or flesh-color.

Adult. Bill chalk-white; naked skin of the head and neck livid crimson, approaching dilute carmine on the cere, and sometimes with whitish papillæ on the crown and before the eye. General plumage black, this deepest and uniform on the lower parts; upper parts with a violet lustre, changing to greenish posteriorly, all the feathers of the dorsal region and the wing-coverts passing into brown on its borders. Primaries and tail-feathers dull black, their shafts clear pale brown. ♂ (No. 12,015, Maryland; M. F. Force). Wing, 22.00; tail, 12.00; culmen, .95; tarsus, 2.30; middle toe, 2.50; outer, 1.55; inner, 1.25; posterior, .30. ♀ (No. 49,681, Camp Grant, Arizona; Dr. E. Palmer). Wing, 20.00; tail, 11.50.

Young. Bill, and naked skin of the head and neck, livid blackish, the occiput and nape with more or less of whitish down. Plumage more uniformly blackish, the brownish borders above less distinct; the reflections of the plumage rather green than violaceous.

Hab. Whole of Temperate America; resident to lat. 38° north.