14 NORTH AMERICAN- OOLOGY. PART I. 



Mr. Gosse speaks of it as a constant resident of Jamaica, 1 and Mr. Nuttall supposed 

 it to nest in. the Southern States. 2 Both are probably mistaken. In every instance 

 where I have heard of the Pigeon-hawk as a summer resident, south of Maine, it 

 has proved to be the Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter fuscus}. Dr. Gambel found 

 it abundant on the coast of California, Sir John Richardson met with it in latitude 

 57 north, and again probably in 66, and M. de Sagra, Lembeye, and Dr. Gund- 

 lach mention it as a visitant of Cuba. 



HYPOTRIORCHIS FEMORALIS. 



Falco femoralis, TEMM. PL Col. I, 1827, Livraison 58, pi. cxxi (males) ; pi. cccxliii (adult male). 



" DARWIN, Zoology of the Beagle, 1838, Part III, p. 28. 



Harpagus lidentatiqfc, GAY, Fauna Chilena, 1847, Aves, p. 230. 



Hypotriorckis femoralis, CASSIN, Birds of Gilliss's U. S. Nav. Ast. Ex. II, 1855, 177. 

 VULG. Alcou or Halcou. 



THIS handsome species rests its claims to be regarded as a North American, as 

 well as a South American bird, at present, upon a single specimen, obtained in New 

 Mexico by Dr. A. L. Heermann. This was a fine adult bird, in regard to the iden- 

 tity of which there can be no question. It was at first supposed by its discoverer to 

 be a new and undescribed species, and its identity with Temmink's F. femoralis was 

 closely scrutinized. No other specimens, that I am aware of, have been obtained 

 in North America. 



Mr. Darwin, in his Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, mentions obtaining one 

 specimen in a small valley on the plains of Patagonia, at Port Desire, in latitude 

 47 44' south. This would seem to exhibit for this Hawk the unusually extended 

 geographical range of at least eighty degrees of latitude. M. D'Orbigny supposed 

 that latitude 34 was the extreme southern limit of this species. In this he was 

 clearly very much in error. Besides the instance just mentioned, I am assured by 

 Mr. N. H. Bishop that he found this bird very abundant throughout the Pampas of 

 southern South America, in about latitude 38 south, and Lieutenant Gilliss also 

 brought specimens from Chile. 



According to Mr. Darwin, the H. femoralis builds its nest in low bushes. This 

 corresponds Avith the observations of Mr. Bishop. Mr. Darwin also states that he 

 found the female sitting on her eggs in the beginning of January. He describes the 

 eggs he found as " one eighth of an inch in longer diameter, and one fourth of an 

 inch in shorter ; surface rough with white projecting points ; color nearly uniform 

 dirty wood-brown, thickly freckled with rather a darker tint ; general appearance 

 as if it had been rubbed in brown mud." This description is not exact, and does 

 not convey a very correct idea of the specimens in my possession. 



1 The Birds of Jamaica, p. 19. 2 Nuttall's Manual, I, 60. 



