154 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Plntcliins, in lii.s notes on the Hiidson'.s Bay birds, states that the 

 Pigeon Hawk " makes its nest on the rocks and in liollow trees, of sticks 

 and grass, lined with feathers, laying from two to four white eggs, thinly 

 marked with red spots." As Hutchins has been found to be generally quite 

 accurate in his statements, and as this description does not at all apply 

 either to the nest or tlie eggs of the columbarhis, it is quite possible that lie 

 may have mistaken this sjiecies for tlie Pigeon Hawk, and tliat this descrip- 

 tion of eggs and nests belongs not to columharius, but to richardsoni. 



Subgenus RHYNCHOFALCO, Ridgway. 



Species. 



F. femoralis. Wing, 9.30-11.60; tail, G..30 - 8.80 ; culmen, .60 -.80; tarsus, 1.62- 

 2.00; niiddle tOL', l.ljj-].70. Second and third quills longest; first equal to or shorter 

 than fourth. Adult (sexes similar). Above uniform plumbeous, the secondaries broadly 

 tipped with whitish. Tail darker terminally, crossed by about eight narrow, continuous 

 bands of white, and tipped with tlie same. A broad postocular stripe, middle area of 



420T6,^. 



c^ 



the anriculars, and entire throat and jugulum, white, nnvariegated ; the latter with a 

 semicircular outline posteriorly, and the former changing to orange-rufous on the occiput, 

 where the stripes of the two sides are confluent. Sides entirely uniform blackish (con- 

 fluent on the middle of the abdomen), with narrow bars of white ; posterior lower parts 

 immaculate light ochraceou.<:. Young .similar, but the jugulum with longitudinal stripes 

 of blackish. Hah. Whole of Tropical America, exclusive of the West Indies, north to 

 the southern border of the United States. 



