MICRASTUR.—HERPETOTHERES. 111 
Nicaragua, Matagalpa, La Libertad, Santo Domingo, Rio Coco (fichardson), Lake 
Managua (Mus. Brit.), Rio Escondido (Richmond !°); Costa Rica (v. Frantzius 7, 
Gabb"), Monte Redondo (Zeledon °), Estrella, Jiménez, Irazu, Talamanca, Pozo del 
Pital, Carillo (Underwood); Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui, Calovevora®, Calobre 
(£. Arcé), Lion Hill (M‘Leannan '*).—Soutu America, Colombia, Ecuador. 
M. guerilia belongs to the smaller section of the genus Micrastur, in which all the 
species are characterized by a closely-barred under surface. It differs from its South- 
American allies in having the abdomen barred like the breast. 
Though procured in nearly every State within our limits, and of most frequent 
occurrence in Costa Rica, this species appears to be nowhere common. 
We have no record of its food or habits. 
Group B. 
Subfam. HERPETOTHERINZ. 
This subfamily contains the single genus Herpetotheres, which again consists of one 
species only, H. cachinnans, a bird of wide range in South and Central America. 
Mr. Ridgway, in his ‘Outlines of a Natural Arrangement of the Falconide,’ makes 
Herpetotheres the representative of one of his four groups of Falconine, the Herpeto- 
therine of the ‘Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium.’ He gives it the following 
characters, which, taken together, separate it from the other groups of the same main 
section of the family :—* Posterior toe elongated, almost equal to the lateral pair. ‘Tarsi 
and toes covered uniformly with thin, rough, imbricated scales. Tomia without tooth or 
notch. Nostrils as in the Falcones and Polybori. Superciliary process of the lachrymal 
elongated, very broad, reaching nearly across the orbit. Posterior margin of the 
sternum nearly even, entire, and without foramina. Primaries as in Polybori and 
Micrastures.” Mr. Ridgway also extracts some characters of the pterylography of 
Herpetotheres and Micrastur from Nitzsch’s work, by which these groups may be 
distinguished. Herpetotheres has distinct eyelashes; the lumbar tract is present; the 
dorsal portion of the spinal tract is sparsely feathered to the caudal pit, thence 
diminished and continued as a narrow band along the caudal vertebre to the oil-gland. 
HERPETOTHERES. 
Herpetotheres, Vieillot, N. Dict. d’Hist. N. xviii. p. 317 (1817); Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. 
p: 277. . 
This genus bears a strong outward resemblance to the Serpent-Eagles (Circaetus, 
Spilornis, &c.) of the Old World, especially as regards the coarse reticulation of the 
tarsus. Like the species of the above-named genera, Herpetotheres feeds upon reptiles 
and grasshoppers, and is arboreal in its habits. 
