BIRDS OF SOUTHERN" VERACRUZ WETMORE 241 



eaglelike screams. The especially thick, heavy feathering made them 

 hard to kill, especially since it was difficult to approach them within 

 easy range. I secured an adult female that was laying at the Arroyo 

 Corredor, April 12, 1939. Carriker shot an adult female near Hue- 

 yapa on March 7 and an immature of the same sex on the Cerro de 

 Tuxtla at about 1,000 feet elevation near Tapacoyan on March 28, 

 1940. 



BUSARELLUS NIGRICOLLIS NIGRICOLLIS (Latham) 



Falco nigricollis Latham, Index ornithologicus, vol. 1, 1790, p. 35 (Cayenne). 



On March 6, 1939, I saw a pair along the river below Boca San 

 Miguel and later recorded one over a lagoon near Tres Zapotes. Car- 

 riker found a pair north of Hueyapa and shot the female on March 

 5, 1940. These hawks locally are called cabeza vieja because of their 

 white heads. 



In the small series at hand I can see no differences between birds 

 from various localities in Mexico, Central America, and South Amer- 

 ica north of the lower Amazon. 



CIRCUS CYANEUS HUDSONIUS (Linnaeus) : Marsh Hawk 



Falco hudsonius Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 129 (Hudson 

 Bay). 



On March 30, 1 recorded an adult female coursing over open milpas. 

 Another female was seen near Tlacotalpam April 16. 



GERANOSPIZA NIGRA NIGRA (Du Bns) 



■ Ischnoceles niger Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Roy. Belgique, vol. 14, pt. 2, 1847, p. 102 

 (Mexico). 



On April 4, 1939, I shot a male at the Arroyo Corredor. As I 

 moved quietly among the trees I suddenly saw its dark form clearly 

 through the branches as it perched 15 feet from the ground in heavy, 

 open forest. It was eating a large orthopteran. The feathers are 

 dense, fluffy, and abundant, like those of some bird from a colder 

 region. 



I agree with Kirke Swann 13 that nigra is a species distinct from 

 caerulescens. While the darker color of nigra might be considered 

 merely a melanism, the immature plumage is decidedly different in 

 the white throat and in the style of markings on the lower surface. 

 In the juvenile stage caerulescens is distinctly barred with white 

 while in nigra the white appears more as irregular blotching. 



18 Monograph of the birds of prey, vol. 1, pt. 3, May 30, 1925, p. 156. 



