It may probably be expected, that, in a publication of this kind, we should commence with the order ACCIPITRES, and proceed, regularly, through the different orders and genera, according to the particular system adopted. This, however desirable, is in the present case altogether impracticable; unless, indeed, we possessed living specimens, or drawings, of every particular species to be described; an acquisition which no private individual, nor public Museum in the world, can, as yet, boast of. This work is not intended to be a mere compilation from books, with figures taken from stuffed and dried birds, which would be but a sorry compliment to the science; but a transcript from living Nature, embracing the whole Ornithology of the United States; and as it is highly probable that numerous species, at present entirely unknown, would come into our possession long after that part of the work appropriated for the particular genera to which they belonged had been finished, and thereby interrupt, in spite of every exertion, the regularity of the above arrangement, or oblige us to omit them altogether: considering these circumstances, and that during the number of years which the completion of the present work will necessarily occupy, the best opportunities will be afforded, and every endeavour used, to procure drawings of the whole, a different mode has been adopted, as being more agreeably diversified, equally illustrative of the science, and perfectly practicable; which the other is not. The birds will, therefore, appear without regard to generical arrangement; but the order, genus, &c. of each will be particularly noted; and a complete Index added to the whole, in which every species will be arranged in systematic order, with reference to the volume, page, and plate, where each figure and description may be instantly found.

From the great expense of engravings executed by artists of established reputation, many of those who have published works of this kind, have had recourse to their own ingenuity in etching their plates; but, however honourable this might have been to their industry, it has been injurious to the effect intended to be produced by the figures; since the point, alone, is not suffiVOL. I.-D d

cient to produce a finished engraving; and many years of application are necessary to enable a person, whatever may be his talents or diligence, to handle the graver with the facility and effect of the pencil; while the time, thus consumed, might be more advantageously employed in finishing drawings, and collecting facts for the descriptive part, which is the proper province of the Ornithologist. Every person who is acquainted with the extreme accuracy of eminent engravers, must likewise be sensible of the advantage of having the imperfections of the pencil corrected by the excellence of the graver. Every improvement of this kind the author has studiously availed himself of; and has frequently furnished the artist with the living or newly-killed subject itself to assist his ideas.

In colouring the impressions, the same scrupulous attention has been paid to imitate the true tints of the original. The greatest number of the descriptions, particularly those of the nests, eggs, and plumage, have been written in the woods, with the subjects in view, leaving as little as possible to the lapse of recollection: as to what relates to the manners, habits, &c. of the birds, the particulars on these heads are the result of personal observation, from memoranda taken on the spot; if they differ, as they will in many points, from former accounts, this at least can be said in their behalf, that a single fact has not been advanced which the writer was not himself witness to, or received from those on whose judgment and veracity he believed reliance could be placed. When his own stock of observations has been exhausted, and not till then, he has had recourse to what others have said on the same subject, and all the most respectable performances of a similar nature have been consulted, to which access could be obtained; not neglecting the labours of his predecessors in this particular path, Messrs. Catesby and Edwards, whose memories he truly respects. But, as a sacred regard to truth requires that the errors or inadvertencies of these authors, as well as of others, should be noticed, and corrected, let it not be imputed to unworthy motives, but to its true cause, a zeal for the promotion

of that science, in which these gentlemen so much delighted, and for which they have done so much.

From the writers of our own country the author has derived but little advantage. The first considerable list of our birds was published in 1787, by Mr. Jefferson, in his celebrated "Notes on Virginia," and contains the names of 109 species, with the designations of Linnæus and Catesby, and references to Buffon. The next, and by far the most complete that has yet appeared, was published in 1791, by Mr. William Bartram, in his "Travels through North and South Carolina," &c. in which two hundred and fifteen different species are enumerated, and concise descriptions and characteristics of each added, in Latin and English. Dr. Barton, in his "Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania," has favoured us with a number of remarks on this subject; and Dr. Belknap, in his "History of New Hampshire," as well as Dr. Williams, in that of Vermont, have each enumerated a few of our birds. But these, from the nature of the publications in which they have been introduced, can be considered only as catalogues of names, without the detail of specific particulars, or the figured and coloured representations of the birds themselves. This task, the hardest of all, has been reserved for one of far inferior abilities, but not of less zeal. With the example of many solitary individuals, in other countries, who have succeeded in such an enterprise, he has cheerfully engaged in the undertaking, trusting for encouragement solely to the fidelity with which it will be conducted.

AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

DIV. I. AVES TERRESTRES. LAND BIRDS.

ORDER I. ACCIPITRES. RAPACIOUS.

GENUS I. VULTUR.* VULTURES.

SPECIES I. V. AURA.

TURKEY VULTURE OR TURKEY-BUZZARD.

[Plate LXXV. Fig. 1.]

Vultur aura, LINN. Syst. ed. 10, tom. 1, p. 86, 4.—Ind. Orn. p. 4, No. 8.-VIEILLOT, Ois. de l'Am. Sept. 1, p. 25, pl. 2, bis.—Carrion Crow, SLOANE, Jam. 11, p. 294, tab. 254.-Carrion Vulture, LATH. Gen. Syn. 1, p. 9.—Le Vautour du Brésil, BRISS. 1, p. 468.-Turkey-Buzzard, CATESBY, Car. 1, p. 6.-BARTRAM'S Travels, p. 289.-Cozcaquauhtli, CLAVIGERO, Hist. Mex. 1, p. 47, English translation.—American Vulture, SHAW, Gen. Zool. VII, p. 36.—PEALE'S MUSEUM, No. 11, male-12, female.

THIS species is well known throughout the United States, but is most numerous in the southern section of the union. In the northern and middle states it is partially migratory, the greater part retiring to the south on the approach of cold weather. But numbers remain all the winter in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey; particularly in the vicinity of the large rivers, and the ocean, which afford a supply of food at all seasons.

This genus, has been divided into several genera, by modern ornithologists. Temminck adopts the four following; 1. Vultur. (Illiger). 2. Cathartes (Illiger). 3. Gypaetus. (Storr.) 4. Gypogeranus. (Illiger). The two following species belong to the second of these, the genus Cathartes of Illiger. No true Vulture in the present restricted acceptation of that genus has been found in America.