242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. »3 



Family FALCONIDAE 



POLYBORUS CHERIWAY AUDUBONII Cassin 



Polyborus Audubonii Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 17, 1865, 

 p. 2 (Florida). 



The caracara was seen regularly around Tres Zapotes during 

 March and April, but it was not abundant. 



HERPETOTHERES CACHINNANS CHAPMANI Bangs and Penard 



Herpetotheres cachinnans chapmani Bangs and Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp, 

 Zool., vol. 62, Apr. 1918, p. 37 (Santa Lucia, Rio Hondo, Quintana Roo, 

 Mexico ) . 



This interesting hawk was not rare around Tres Zapotes, the com- 

 bination there of clearings and low forest being, favorable to it, as 

 it seems always to seek open tree growth, as at the borders of fields 

 and savannas, but does not enter extensive areas of heavy forests. 

 Usually its presence is revealed by its loud calls, which are heard 

 mainly in morning and evening and carry for long distances. The 

 notes seemed a little higher in tone than those of H. c. queribundus that 

 I heard years ago in Paraguay and northern Argentina. The natives 

 know it as the vaquero and say that when it perches among leaves 

 it will rain, and that when it rests in the open on a dead tree the 

 weather will be fair, a belief with a certain amount of truth in a 

 country where rain is frequent and where the birds come out to sun 

 themselves on clear days. Occasionally I saw these falcons turning 

 in small circles 200 yards in the air with the short, round wings fully 

 extended so that the tips of the primaries were widely separated. 

 Under such circumstances the long tail gives an outline quite dif- 

 ferent from that of species of Buteo and allied hawks. 



I secured a male at the edge of the forest at Arroyo Corredor on 

 April 7, 1939. Carriker took another on January 20, 1940. The 

 wing measurements are 261 and 273 mm. The smaller of the two has 

 the wing somewhat worn. 



One taken by Carriker on January 25, 1940, at Tres Zapotes has 

 the wing 292 mm. In the National Museum there is a second speci- 

 men with the wing 289 mm. from Paso Nuevo, Veracruz, to the south- 

 east of Tres Zapotes collected by A. E. Colburn between March 27 and 

 April 22, 1901, and another (wing 283 mm.) obtained in March 1883 

 at "Santa Ana, Est. Veracruz" apparently Barra de Santa Ana, on 

 the coast of eastern Tabasco. 



FALCO FUSCO-COERULESCENS SEPTENTRIONALIS Todd: Aplomado Falcon 



Falco fusco-coerulescens septentrionalis Todd, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 

 29, June 6, 1916, p. 9S (Fort Huachuca, Ariz.). 



