60 FALCONIDZ. 
Buteo zonocercus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 1830™; Trans. Z. 8. iv. p. 2638, t. 59%; Sel. & Salv. Ibis, 
1859, p. 217°; Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 46°"; Elliot, Birds N. Am. ii. t. 33". 
Buteo fuliginosus (nec Sclater), Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 133°; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, 
p-. 368 ®. 
Niger, supra plumis omnibus ad basin albis; fronte alba: subtus maculis celatis albis notatus ; alis fusco- 
nigris, indistincte nigro transfasciatis, subtus griseo-albidis fusco fasciatis et variegatis ; remigum apicibus 
nigris ; cauda supra nigra, fasciis duabus medianis fuscis notata, his subtus albis, interdum irregulariter 
confluentibus; cera et pedibus flavis; iride coryllina. Long. tota circa 20°0, ale 15:5, caude 8-0, 
tarsi 2°8. (Descr. maris ex Hermosillo, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Juv. ad. Similis, sed cauda nigra supra crebre fusco fasciata, fasciis his subtus in pogonio rectricum interno 
albidis. : 
Hab. Sovurnern Unirep States, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California "4, 
Lower California 1°.—Mextco 1, Hermosillo in Sonora (Ferrari-Perez), Mazatlan 
(Grayson ®, Forrer), Valley of Mexico (Herrera ®), Sierra de Valparaiso, Zacatecas 
(W. B. Richardson), Chietla, Puebla (Ferrari-Perez*), Vera Cruz (Sallé *) ; 
Guaremana 4714 16 (Mus. Cantabr.) ; Costa Rica (v. Frantzius *), San Lucas (C.F. 
Underwood), La Palma!®, San Antonio 2° (Zeledon).—British Guiana; PERv. 
The Zone-tailed Buzzard is a summer visitor to the Southern United States, where 
it nests in Central and South-western Texas, as well as in Southern New Mexico and 
Central and Southern Arizona, probably also in Southern California. In Lower 
California the bird has been found nesting, near Cape San Lucas 1°. 
We have a male of this species from Mr. Ferrari-Perez, obtained at Hermosillo in 
Sonora, in January. Mr. A. Forrer met with it at Presidio de Mazatlan, in the same 
month, where Grayson says that it is a resident, though not common. An example 
‘procured by Mr. Richardson in the Sierra de Valparaiso in Zacatecas on the 27th 
of July indicates that it also breeds in the mountains of this Province. 
We did not meet with this Buzzard in Guatemala, except as a moth-eaten specimen 
in the Museum of the Sociedad Economica, at Escuintla, in June 18734; but Skinner 
obtained an example in that country, and another procured by Constancia is in the 
Strickland Collection at Cambridge’. Von Frantzius includes it in his list of Costa 
Rican birds, and Mr. C. F. Underwood informs us that there is a specimen from 
San Lucas in the National Museum at San José. 
This species was originally described from British Guiana, and a young bird in the 
British Museum, from Lima in Peru, also appears to belong to it. 
The late Colonel Grayson says that its flight is easy and graceful, the bird frequently 
soaring to a great height. From its mode of flight and gyrations, as well as in colour, 
it resembled at a distance a Turkey-Vulture >. The food is said to consist of lizards, 
frogs, and fishes, as well as small Rodents. 
The nest is large and bulky, composed of sticks and lined with a few leaves, 
The eggs are white or bluish white, and seldom show any reddish-brown spots or 
blotches 1°. 
