FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 283 



Sp. Char. Adult. Upper parts rich bhmkisli-brown, approaching black on the back ; 

 scapulars and miiblle wing-coverts edged and barred beneath the surface with dull white, 

 and tinged along edges with ochraccons. Wings generally of a paler shade than the 

 back ; secondaries fading into nearly white at tips, and. with the greater coverts, obscurely 

 barred with darker; primaries nearly black, tips edged with pale brown, this passing into 

 whitish. Rump unilbrm blackish-brown, feathers obscurely bordered with rusty. Upper 

 tail-coverts ochraceous-white, nearly pure terminally, and with about two distinct 

 transverse bars of deep rutbus. Tail rich uniform lateriUous-rufous, passing narrowly 

 into white at the tip, and about an inch (or less) from the end crossed by a narrow band 

 of black. Head and neck with the feathers medially blaoki.sh-brown, their edges rusty- 

 rufous, causing a streaked appearance; the rufous prevailing on the sides of the occiput, 

 the ear-coverts, and neck. The l)lackish almost uniform on the forehead and on the 

 cheeks, over which it forms a broad ■' mustache " ; lores and sides of frontlet whitish. 

 Throat white, with broad stripes of pure slaty-brown ; lower parts in general ochraceous- 

 white ; tibisB and lower tail-coverts immaculate; across the abdomen aj.d flanks (imme- 

 diately in front of the tibiM) is a broad intei-rupted belt of longitudinal black blotches, 

 those on the abdomen tear-shaped, on the flanks larger and more irregular, throwing oft' 

 bars toward the edge of the feathers ; whole pectoral area variegated only with a few 

 shaft-streaks of black (these growing broader laterally), and sometimes washed with 

 rusty. Lining of the wing ochraceous-white, with sparse diamond-shaped spots of pale 

 rufous, and shaft-streaks of darker ; under surface of primaries white anterior to their 

 emargination, beyond which they gradually deepen into Ijlack ; the innermost ones are 

 finely mottled with slaty, and with imperfect transverse bars of the same. 



Male. Wing, 13.50-16.50; tail, 8..50- 10.00; culmen, .95-1.08: tarsus, 1.40-3.20; 

 middle toe, 1. GO -1.70. Weight, 2J - 3 lbs. 



Female. Wing, 15.25-17.75; tail, 9..50-10..30 ; cuhnen, 1.00-1.15; tarsus, 3.15-3.40; 

 middle toe, 1.70 - 1.80. Weight, 3-4 lbs. 



Young (28,154, Philailelphia; J. Krider). Above similar to the adult, but lacking 

 entirely any rufous tinge, the scapulars and wing-coverts more variegated with whitish. 

 Tail light grayish-brown (very much lighter than the rump), tinged, especially basally, 

 with rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and crossed with nine or ten narrow, curved 

 bands of black ; upper tail-coverts white, with broad bars of black. Head as in the 

 adult, but the rufous wanting, leaving the streaks black and white ; forehead more broadly 

 white ; chin and throat wholly white, the latter with a collar of dusky streaks across the 

 lower part ; whole pectoral region entire!}' immaculate, pure white ; abdominal band as 

 in the adult ; tibire somewhat tinged with ochraceous, unvariegated. 



Hab. Eastern North America ; not in West Indies, nor west of the Missouri. 



Localities: (?) Bahamas (Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 64). 



LIST OF SPECIMEKS EXASflXED. 



National Museum, 9; Philadelphia Academy, 13; Boston Society, 8; Museum, Cam- 

 bridge, 15 ; Cab. a. N. Lawrence, 3 ; Coll. R. Ridgway, 2. Total, 50. 



The true Butco horcalis, a.s restricted, may always be distinguislied from 

 the var. caluri's, its western representative, by its having the posterior lower 

 parts (tibiae and lower tail-coverts) entirely free from transverse bars, and 

 by lacking indications of transverse bars on the tail, anterior to the con- 

 spicuons subterminal one. It differs from the var. casta rkcnsk, in having 

 the head and neck conspicuously striped witli rufous, and the tliroat thickly 

 striped witli black, almost obliterating the white ; in the conspicuous alidoin- 



