26 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



described as 2-ro inches in length by ly in breadth; its ground is a yellowish-white 

 or cream-color ; sub-markings of a purplish-gray occur ; over the entire egg, in scat- 

 tered, irregular patches, are spots and blotches of a very light tone of umber-brown, 

 but these are nowhere confluent or frequent in number. Traces of these markings 

 exist in the Arkansas specimen, but so faintly, that they would, unless looked for 

 carefully, be mistaken for accidental discolorations. In regard to its exact locality, 

 or the circumstances attending its discovery, I am unable at present to add anything. 



BUTEO MONTANUS. 



Falco butco, AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 508, pi. ccclxxii. 

 Buteo vuJgaris ? AUD. Syn. 1839, p. 5. 



" Birds of America, I, 1840, 30, pi. vi ? 

 Butco mont.ana, NUTTALL, Manual, I, 1840, 112. 



Buteo swainsoni, CASSIN, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 98. 

 Butco lorealis, CASSIN, Notes on N. A. Falconidae, Proc. Phil. Acad. Feb. 1855, p. 279. 

 Buteo montanus, CASSIN, Proc. Phil. Acad. Feb. 1856, p. 39. 



VULG. The Western Buzzard. The Western Red-tailed Hawk. White-throated Buzzard. 



THREE separate species of North American Hawks, having a more or less close 

 resemblance, have been confounded one with the other. At least their specific 

 distinctness has not until very recently been well ascertained. These, as has been 

 already stated, arc the common Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis) of the Atlantic 

 States, Swainson's Buzzard (Buteo sirtiiityoui, Bonap.), and the Western Red-tailed 

 Hawk (Butco montanus). The last named has only recently had its claims to be 

 received as a distinct species duly recognized. The obscurity which has rested 

 over these claims of the Western Red-tail to be regarded as specifically distinct, 

 has at last yielded to the results of Mr. Cassin's diligent investigations ; and the 

 uncertainties which have hitherto prevailed may now be considered as having 

 been entirely removed by the satisfactory paper of that naturalist. A brief review 

 of the history of these gradual steps towards our present knowledge may not be 

 inappropriate in this connection. 



The common Red-tailed Hawk of the Atlantic States was known to the earliest 

 American naturalists. Its distinguishing characters have always been regarded as 

 well defined, and the species has been well known to all American ornithologists. 

 The bird now received as a good species, under the name of Swainson's Buzzard, 

 was first described in Richardson and Swainson's Fauna Boreali-Americana, as iden- 

 tical with the Common Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris) of Europe. 1 It is there spoken 

 of as quite a common bird in the fur countries. This species was first claimed 



1 In the same work, Mr. Swainson described, as the female of this species, a bird which is not identi- 

 cal with it, but is probably a female B. montanus in an immature plumage. 



