324 BULLETIN OF THE 



crissum and abdomen ; another is mainly black, but varied belov 

 bars of pale rufous and blotches of white ; a fourth is also nearly black, *.. 

 verv dark brown, but considerably more relieved with white below than 

 the last ; a filth is mainly white below, with longitudinal stripes of dark 

 brown, and so nearly resembles a common immature stage of the American 

 Buteo borealis that if placed together the most discriminating observer 

 could not tell. which specimen was the European or which the American 

 one. The sixth is very light colored throughout, with only a few dusky 

 longitudinal spots on the breast. This' specimen is also not readily dis- 

 tinguishable from certain common phases of B. borealis. Another specimen 

 of B. vulgaris, in the La Fresnaye collection in the Museum of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, is still lighter than this, being nearly uniform 

 whitish below, and very light colored, almost white above. The latter 

 specimen and the first-mentioned dark specimen present as great differences 

 in color as two specimens of one species can well be conceived to exhibit. 

 The variations presented by the American B. borealis have already been 

 fully detailed by the late Dr. Henry Bryant, in his " Remarks on the Varia- 

 tions of the Plumage of Buteo borealis auct., and B. Harlani Aud."* He 

 observes that the variation in plumage of the species of Buteo, common in 

 the Atlantic States, " are so slight that it is not to be wondered at that 

 the first specimens from other parts of the country, presenting as they did 

 such extraordinary variations in color, should have been described as dis- 

 tinct species. At present, however," he continues, " the number of speci- 

 mens known is so large that on careful examination i^seems to me necessary 

 to adopt one of two conclusions, namely, either to increase the number of 

 species indefinitely, or to reduce them to a much smaller number than are 

 now supposed to exist. As the European buzzard, Buteo vulgaris, is well 

 known to present the greatest variety of color, it seems to me more reason- 

 able to adopt the last conclusion." f With the above opinions and 

 remarks I in the main agree, but do not regard the variations presented by 

 the Buteo borealis as by any means slight, even in the Atlantic States. 

 Although instances of such excessive variation as are seen in the Central 

 and Pacific States are apparently more rare in the Atlantic States, speci- 



* Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. VIII, p. 107, 1861. 



t In respect to the variety of color in the B. vulgaris, Dr. Bryant makes the following 

 quotation from Nanmann's Natural History of the Birds of Germany (Vol. I, p. 347): 

 " In the coloring of the feathers of the bird there prevails a most extraordinary differ- 

 ence, and one which is not often seen in other birds of prey. From the darkest uniform 

 blackish-brown to the purest white, we find all the shades, and also both colors mixed 

 and spotted, in such various ways that the countless transitions cannot be described; 

 this difference is independent of age and sex." Many other European writers, it may 

 be added, have made similar remarks in respect to its astonishing range of variation in 

 color. 



