VOL. XVIII, PP 121-126 APRIL 18, 1905
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE'
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
NOTES ON THE NAMES OF CERTAIN NORTH AMER
ICAN BIRDS.
BY E. W. NELSON.
During my recent study of the Mexican birds in the collec
tion of the Biological Survey, some facts have come to light
which appear to necessitate changes in the nomenclature of
several species.
I am indebted to Dr. Chas. W. Richmond of the National
Museum for calling my attention to the literature in some of the
cases mentioned below, and to Mr. J. H. Riley of the National
Museum for his courtesy in helping me with the comparisons of
the turkey buzzards. Acknowledgments are also due Mr. Wit-
mer Stone of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences,
and Mr. Outram Bangs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
for the loan of material.
SULA LEUCOGASTRA Boddaert.
In the original description of Pelecanus sula (Syst. Nat. ed.
12, I, p. 218, 1766) Linnaeus characterizes it as less than half
the size of bassana, with the body white, the outer part of the
primaries and secondaries black, and the face and feet red.
This description in no way fits the bird recognized by most
later authors under the name of Sula sula, which has the head,
neck and upperparts (including the tail) dark sooty brown ;
19 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XVII, 1905. (121)
122 Nelson Names of Certain North American Birds.
the underparts white, and the feet green. The ref -rences given
by Linnaeus with the original description, however, belong
mainly to this last mentioned bird. Gmelin follow >d in 1788
with a composite description under Pelmum* *nla in which he
includes Linnaeus' statement that the body is white and con
tradictory matter of his own, stating that the species is dark
brown with the underside of the body white.
The bird with the dark brown upperparts and white lower-
parts was first named in 1783 by Boddaert, who called it Siila
leucogastra (Tabl. Plan. Enl. p. 57). Since then authors have
usually treated leucogaMra as a synonym of xald. This may have
originated from the error of Gmelin in confusing the two species
and perhaps even more probably from the references given by
Linnaeus which do not belong under the bird he describes. In any
case, when the application of an author's description is obvious
it is necessary to accept it and not his references to fix the name.
In this case it appears that the specific name wla should become
a synonym of piscator, and Sula leucogastra Boddaert be used for
the species which has so long gone under the name Sula sula.
ACCIPITER VELOX PACiFicus (Lesson).
In 1888 Mr. Ridgway described the western sharp-shinned
hawk as Accipiter velox rufilatus (Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus., XI, p.
92) taking as the type a specimen from Fort Bridger, Wyoming.
In 1845, however, Lesson gives a good description of the male
western sharp-shinned hawk from specimens taken at Aca-
pulco, Guerrero, Mexico, and California, under the name 37.s>/.x
pacificus (Echo du Monde Savant, June 19, 1845, Col. 1086) so
that the western sharp-shinned hawk, if a recognizable form,
becomes Accipiter velox pacifism (Lesson). This bird occurs only
as a winter visitor to Acapulco for which reason the birds of
California may be taken as typical of this form.
CATHARTES AURA (Linnseus).
The common turkey buzzard of North America was named
by Linnseus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae (p. 86,
1758). He called it Vultur aura and mentioned only a single
Neli on Names of Certain North American Birds. 123
character, the white bill, that is particularly diagnostic of the
bird to which the name is commonly applied. In the 12th
edition of the Systema however, the feet are said to be flesh
colored and the head red. These additions definitely fix the
name. This becomes of importance, since two distinct birds are
included in the references cited by Linnaeus. Of these Urubu
brasUieimb'US Marcgrave appears to be the small yellowheaded
buzzard since named (Enops pemigra by Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit.
Mus. I, p. 26, 1874).
The remaining principal references are four, two of which are
from the West Indies, one from Mexico, and the other from the
southeastern United States. In the Mexican reference the
common name aunt is quoted from Hernandez this evidently
is the source of the name -used by Linnaeus, and it is of interest
to find that aura is still the common name of this vulture
throughout Mexico. In 1839 Wied in the account of his trip
from Rockport, Indiana, to Owensboro, Kentucky, calls attention
to the differences between the vultures of this group in Brazil and
those of North America (Reise in das Innere Nord-America I.
p. 162, footnote, 1839). He considers that the Brazilian bird
is the true Cathurtcy aura, and gives to the birds of North Amer
ica the provisional name of Cathartes septentrionalis. In these
notes Wied describes a pair of North American birds in consid
erable detail, but does not specify any definite locality for them.
Fortunately he published a later and more elaborate paper upon
the same subject (Journal ftir Ornithologie 1856, p. 119),
and again describes a pair of North American birds which were
taken on the Wabash River near New Harmony, Indiana, where
he stayed for some time while visiting Thomas Say. As the
measurements are identical in both of these descriptions it be
comes evident that these birds were the types of Cathartes sep
tentrionalis, and enables us to fix the type locality. The name
Vvltur aura of Linmeus as originally used applied to all the red
headed vultures of the United States, Mexico, and the West
Indies. Recent collections from Mexico and the West Indies
show that the birds of these regions are very much smaller than
those of the northern United States. The series available for
comparison shows that the extremes of the two forms are con
nected by regular gradation through the intervening territory.
These differences between the birds of the two regions appear to
124 Xdson Names of Certain North American Bi, 1*.
be great enough to necessitate the recognition of two geographic
forms. This being the case, we have Cathartes aura sept r,, trio -ti
alis (Wied) for the large northern form ranging from the British
possessions throughout the United States to northern Mexico.
The original name is restricted to the small bird of Mexico,
Central America, and the West Indies. The southern form
may be considered typical in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico,
which is the region where it was found by Hernandez, upon
whose account Linnaeus largely based his original description.
The Vera Cruz bird was again named in 1845 when Cassin
described Cathartes burrovianus from a specimen a ected near
the city of Vera Cruz (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,
1845, p. 212). This name has given rise to some difference of
opinion among ornithologists. By some it has properly been
considered as a small Cathartes aura. Others have treated it as
a distinct species. Fortunately Cassin 's type is extant and
through the courtesy of Mr. Witruer Stone of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia I have recently had the oppor
tunity to examine it.
A careful comparison of this type with a considerable series
of birds from the United States, Cuba, the Isle of Pines and
various parts of Mexico makes it evident that it is a typical
specimen of the small turkey buzzard which occurs throughout
southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. It is
in nearly fresh black plumage but the upper side of the shafts
of the primaries are bleached old ivory white to within two or
three inches of the tips. The opening through the nostrils has
been distorted at the anterior end by a cord used to tie together
the mandibles of the fresh bird. This distortion of the nostril
from the same cause is shown in a number of other specimens
examined. The type of burrocianus is a mounted bird' with the
skin of the back of the neck distorted in such a way as to carry
the feathering higher up on the nape than normal and thus
furnish one of the supposed characters of the species.
Birds from Vera Cruz, Cuba, and the Isle of Pines are about
the same in size but the island birds have heavier bills. The
Jamaica bird is even smaller than the one in Cuba.
Birds from northern Mexico, including Lower California and
the entire southern border of the United States, are distinctly
larger than those from Vera Cruz and Cuba and there appears
Ifdxon Nam.es of Certain North American Birds. 125
to be a constant increase in size to the northern part of the
birds' range.
The typical form of Catharies aura differs from the northern
bird in smaller size narrower and less well marked brown bor
;
ders to the feathers of the back (the brown border sometimes
entirely lacking). The color of the upper side of the shafts
of the primaries (brown when freshly moulted) soon bleaches to
an old ivory, or yellowish white.
. Catharte* aura septentrional is differs from the typical form in
larger size more pronounced brown borders to the feathers of;<
the upperiliurts, and the upper side of the shafts of the primaries
usually remain permanently dusky brown.
The following measurements give an idea of the differences in
size between the two forms.
Catharies aura :
Male (?), near city of Vera Cruz, Mexico. (Type of C.
burrovianus) . Wing, 475 tail, 215 tarsus, 62.; ;
Female, Southern Vera Cruz (April 7, 1901, Bangs Coll.).
Wing, 475 tail, 233; ; tarsus, 63.
Cathartes aura septentrionalis :
Male, Washington, D. C. (Dec. 25.) Wing, 553 ; tail, 320 ;
tarsus, 74.5.
Male, Mt. Carmel, 111. (Aug. 1.) Wing, 550 ; tail, 320 tar;
sus, 67.
TANGAVIUS INVOLUCRATUS Lesson.
In the Revue Zoologique for February, 1839, p. 41, Lesson
describes Tangarins inrolucratus from a Mexican specimen in the
'
Abeille Collection as follows : T. corpore nigro teneoque ; alis,
et cauda atrocterulescente splendentUrns ; colli phnnis, amplis, dila-
rolucrum ' 'tate in forma utibus. This description evidently applies
to a form of Callothrus, and since numerous other new birds
described from the Abeille Collection about the same time were
from eastern Mexico it is fair to infer that the present species carne
from the same region . Both generic and specific names appear
to be used for the first time in the place quoted above Callothrus;
of Cassin, 1866, is thus antedated by Tangavius of Lesson, 1839,
and involacrat us replaces robustus for the name of the bird of
eastern Mexico.
126 Nelson Names of Certain North American Bird^
The birds of this genus in western Mexico ha-ve hitherto been
considered specifically distinct from those of eastern Mexico but
the series in the Biological Survey Collection show that about
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and southward intergradation takes
place so that a rearrangement of the Mexican forms becomes
necessary. The South American species becomes Tangavius
armenti (Cabanis) and the Mexican species should stand as fol
lows :
Tangavhts emeu* wiieus (Wagler) Western Mexico.
u u assimilis (Nelson) Southwestern Mexico.
(( a involucratuA (Lesson) Eastern Mexico.