ASTURINA. 239 



a'. Tarsus 3.50 or less ; ujiper tail-coverts in adult black barred or tipped with white. 

 Adult : Uniform black, with a chalky or glaucous cast in certain lights ; 

 upper tail-coverts narrowly tipped with white ; tail black, the tip and 

 base white, and crossed at about the middle by a broad band of white of 

 variable width. Young : Above brownish black, varied by ochraceous or 

 rusty edgings and spots ; head, neck, and lower^parts pale ochraceous, 

 striped with brownish black ; thighs barred with the same ; tail crossed 

 by about seven narrow oblique bands of black and whitish, of variable 

 relative width. Downy xjoung : " Covered with dense woolly down, nearly 

 white on head and breast, passing into grayish posteriorly upon the head, 

 throat, sides of breast, tibia, and back." (Mearns.) Male: Length 

 about 21.50, wing 13.15-14.90, tail 7.90-9.75, culmen 1.00-1.05, tarsus 

 3.20-3.40, middle toe 1.60-1.70. Female: Length about 22.50, wing 

 14.25-16.00, tail 9.25-11.00, culmen 1.05-1.10, tarsus 3.00-3.50, middle 

 toe 1.65-1.80. Nest in large trees. Eggs 2-3, 2.10 X 1-75, j)lain white. 

 Hab. Tropical America in general, north to southern Arizona. 



345. U. anthracina (Light.). Mexican Black Hawk. 



Genus ASTURINA Yieillot. (Page 223, pi. LXVIII., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



fl'. Adult with upper parts very indistinctly barred, or almost uniform. Young, 

 with thighs distinctly barred with dusky, and lighter tail-bands grayish 

 brown. 



Adult: Above deep ash-gray, the top of head and hind-neck with fine 

 blackish shaft-streaks, the wing-coverts with indistinct paler bars; upper 

 tail-coverts plain white ; tail black, tipped with grayish or white, and 

 crossed by two to three narrow bands of white, the anterior one nar- 

 rower and more or less interrujjted ; quills black, margined at tips with 

 whitish ; lower parts white, everywhere, except on lower tail-coverts, 

 very regularly barred with deep cinereous, these bars narrower, and the 

 white interspaces correspondingly wider, on flanks and abdomen. Young : 

 Above dark brown, the head and neck streaked, the middle wing-coverts 

 and greater portion of outer webs of scapulars irregularly spotted, with 

 ochraceous or buffy (usually of a pinkish cast) ; upper-tail-coverts white, 

 marked near tips with one or two small spots of dusky ; tail grayish 

 brown, tipped with paler (the extreme tip usually whitish), and crossed 

 by six or seven narrow bands of black, these becoming gradually, but 

 decidedly, smaller toward the base; lower parts white, more or less 

 tinged (especially on sides and under wing-coverts) with pinkish buff, 

 the breast, belly, and sides with large tear-shaped or wedge-shaped 

 stripes or longitudinal spots of blackish, the thighs narrowly barred 

 with the same. Length about 16.00-18.00, wing 9.50-11.70, tail 6.70- 

 8.20, culmen .75-1.00, tarsus 2.50-2.85, middle toe 1.35-1.75. Nest in 

 trees. Eggs 2-3, 1.99 X 1-59, white, usually very faintly and sparsely 



