of the District of Montreal. 67 



In colour it resembles, in some respects, the young of the Circu3 

 Hudsonius or ferrugineus. The specimen above described was 

 shot in the vicinity, I believe, of Terrebonne, and was brought to 

 the late Dr. McCulloch, by one of the farmers residing in that 

 neighborhood. It is evidently a very rare species, as this is the 

 only specimen of it which has been seen here. The foregoing 

 description I have taken from Prof. Cassin, who has described the 

 bird under its present name, " Buteo insignatus", in his valuable 

 work, " Illustrations of the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, 

 British and Russian America." In memory of the late Dr. 

 McCulloch, and his promotion of the study of the natural 

 sciences in this city, it should receive the name of McCulloch's 

 Buzzard, although Mr. Cassin has attached to it the name 

 of " Canada Buzzard." 



F, Cyaneus, Hen harrier. 



F. uliginosus. Wilson and Buonaparte I ! 



D.c. I have never met with a specimen of this bird, but from 

 its extensive geographical range, it ought to be an occasional 

 visitant with us. The following description is from Nuttal's 

 '* Ornithology of the United States and Canada." 



"In the old male, the upper parts are of a blueish gray. The 

 quill feathers are white at their origin, and black the rest of their 

 length ; the internal part of the base of the wings, rump, belly, 

 sides, thighs, abdomen and beneath the tail is white without spots; 

 upper part of the tail of a cinereous gray, with the ends of the 

 feathers whitish ; iris and feet yellow; length 20 and 21 inches." 



We desire only to add to our list of the Falconidae, which we 

 have endeavoured, with every care, to render as perfect and com- 

 plete as possible, that with the varying names given to the species 

 by authors, together with the differences in plumage, (sometimes 

 remarkable) between the male and female bird, and also between 

 that of the young bird and its parents, the greatest of difficulties 

 has originated and has unquestionably caused, in our opinion, some 

 mistakes in the nomenclature. With the exception of the Gull and 

 Tern tribes, to which we might add one or two other genera, we 

 know of none more diflScult of study, or identification than the 

 Hawks. 



Genus Strix. 



Gen. char. Bill compressed and curved from the base. 

 Ce*re more or less covered by stitf, erect hairs ; head large, 

 feathered ; nostrils lateral, rounded, open, and concealed by the 



