Obs. The identification of the bird here described, may be considered as one of the most important services to be performed in North American Ornithology. Its occurrence has never been noticed since the time of the accurate and veracious naturalist who first described it, and his careful description above quoted seems to clearly indicate it to be a species entirely unknown. The white tail especially is characteristic, and establishes a clear distinction from any other known species. It is related evidently to the King Vulture, (_S. papa_,) but that species has a black tail, and in case of mistake or misprint in Bartram’s description, it may be presumed at any rate to relate to an occurrence of that species within the United States. There is no more inviting nor more singular problem in North American Ornithology. C. SPECIES, THE OCCURRENCE OF WHICH IN THE UNITED STATES IS DOUBTFUL. 1. Sarcoramphus gryphus. (Linn.) The Condor. Bonap. Am. Orn. IV. pl. 22. Temm. pl. col. 133, 408, 464. Zool. Voy. Bonité, Birds, pl. 2, (Paris, 1841.) Size, large. Head, neck, and large space on the breast, bare. Plumage, black, with a white space on the wing; neck, with a collar or ruff of white downy feathers; plumage of the back, the quills and tail frequently with a gray tinge. Head above with a large caruncle or comb, and others on the sides of the head and neck. Total length of skin, about 4 feet, wing about 2 feet 6 inches, tail about 15 inches. Hab. South America. Obs. The famous Condor of the Andes, though it has been admitted as a North American bird into the works of Bonaparte and Nuttall, cannot at present, in our opinion, be so regarded. The description in the History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which was supposed to relate to this bird, and has been the sole authority for its introduction by the authors just mentioned, very probably applies to the Californian Vulture. No other travellers have seen the Condor, either at the localities mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, or elsewhere in North America. It is common in the western parts of South America. The most complete descriptions with which we are acquainted are by Humboldt, in Zoological Observations, I. p. 26, (Recuil d’Observationes de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée Paris, 1811, quarto,) and by Darwin in Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, Birds, p. 3, (London, 1841,) and by the same author in Voyage of a Naturalist, I. p. 234, 238, (American edition, New York, 1846, duodecimo.) 2. Sarcoramphus papa. (Linn.) The King Vulture. Spix. Av. Bras. pl. 1. Buff. Pl. Enl. 428. Vieill. Gal. pl. 3. Plumage on the neck, dusky cinereous; wings and tail, glossy black; all other parts, fine pale fulvous. Head and upper part of neck naked, the former with an elevated and conspicuous caruncle arising from the cere. Total length of skin about 28 inches, wing 18, tail about 9 inches. Hab. South and Central America. Mexico.