302 BIRDS OF WESTERN AND 



192. Buteo horealls var. costaricensis Eidg. 



" " " montanus Proc. Bost. Soc. of N. H., xiv, p. 301. 



Socorro Island, Grayson. 



193. Buteo nigricollis Lath. 

 Mazatlan, Grayson. 



" No locality that I have ever visited in my researches for tlic objects pertaining to ornithology equals that 

 where the Mazatlan River forms an expansive valley near the seacoast, for the great numbers and varieties of 

 hawks there met witli. They seem to assemble in this fovorite spot fi'om far and near, and almost all the 

 known species are i-cpresented here dining the dry season. This may be accounted for fi-om the fact that this 

 extensive region is diversified with rudely cultivated farms, old fields overgrown with brambles and weeds, 

 impenetrable thorny woods and forests of large trees, interspersed here and there with stagnant lagoons and 

 lakes, through the centre of which wiml the clear waters of the Rio Mazatlan. Here abounds animal life in 

 great abundance ; the old neglected fields overgi-own with matted vegetation harbor innumerable field-mice 

 and other rodents ; here various species of lizards and snakes dart through the thickets when scared from 

 their sunny beds. The lagoons furnish otlier reptiles ; swarms of ducks and various kinds of water-fowl re- 

 sort to their slimy waters ; the woods are enlivened with great numbers of birds, all of which furnish to the 

 different species of hawks their favorite prej^. 



" The remarkable species which heads this article I discovered in this locality ; it is entirely new to me, and 

 I have not yet seen it mentioned in any vohime at my command ; the specimen has been sent to the National 

 Institution at Washington for identification. The flight of this hawk seems rather heavy, resemblhig some- 

 what the common Fish Hawk, the wings ajipearing very broad, and the tail remarkably short. Upon exam- 

 ining the contents of the stomach after skinning it, I found only the remains of fish, one of which had been 

 but freshly devoured ; it was a species of perch found in the lagoons and rivers of this region." 



194. Buieo alhonotatus Gray. 

 Mazatlan, Grayson. 



"Not common, resident. It flies easily and gracefully, sometimes at a great height. I have seen it fre- 

 quently balance itself in the air when in search of its pi'cy, which it appeared to be watching for in the grass 

 or weeds, where such rodents as it preys upon inhabit. I have sometimes, when it was sailing around, taken 

 it for the Turkey Vulture, its fliglit and perigrinations in tlic air, as well as its color, at a distance, so much 

 resembling that common bird." 



195. Craxirex unicinctus var. harrisii (And.). 



Morphnus tmicinctus Finsch, Abli. nat. Ver. zu Bremen, 1870, p. 363. 

 Mazatlan, Tepic, Jalisco, Grayson ; Colima, Xantus. 



"A common species at aU seasons, in every locality." 



196. Uruhitincja zomtra (Shaw). 

 Mazatlan, Grayson. 



"This fine species is not a very common one ; it is resident in the interior parts of the tierras calientes, and 

 does not inhabit the vicinity of the esteros and seacoast as V. anthracina does." 



197. Uruhitinga aiithracina (Licht.). 

 Mazatlan, San Bias, Grayson. 



"Common at all seasons; usually fnind about the esteros and marshes near the seacoast, subsisting chiefly 

 upon land crabs." 



