1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 24U 



This specimen presents an exceedingly close general resemblance to 

 the browner examples of Buteo fulUjinosus Scl., which is said to be the 

 melanistic phase of B. brachyurus Vieill. An adult female of B. fuliy- 

 inosus differs, however, as follows : — 



Dimensions. 



Wina 



Tail. 



Culmen. 



Depth of 

 bill at base. 



Tarsus. 



Mid. toe. 



B. latissimus . . 

 B. fuliginosus . 



11.50 

 12.00 



.SO 

 .80 



2.40 

 2.25 



1.40 

 1.55 



Wing formula. 



B. latissimus: 3, 4-5-2-6-7-8-9, 1, 10. 

 B. fuliginosus : 3=4-5, 2-6-7-8, 1-9-10. 



Both witli only three outer 

 eniarginated on iuuer webs. 



Color. 



priiu.iries 



B, latissimus. — Forehead dark fuliginous ; tail with two broad bands of brownish 



gray. 

 B. fuliginosus. — Forehead white, with blackish shaft-streaks; tail with five or more 



narrow bauds of brownish gray. 



Mr. Preston, writing under date of January 25, 1886, says : " This is 

 the third specimen that I have seen. Twelve years since my attention 

 was called to a peculiar little black hawk i3ying with a number of B.pcnn- 

 sylvanicus [i. e. latissimus].i\nd from that time until the capture of this spe- 

 cimen I had looked for another in vain. In the spring of 1884 1 came very 

 near securing another, which was in migration with others of the species. 

 The present example was shot by myself in a small oak grove on Crys- 

 tal Lake, Hancock County, Iowa, May 3, 1883. A number of Broad- 

 wings were sheltering in the woods at the time, as a cold storm pre- 

 vailed. While attempting to get nearer one of them this bird flew 

 from a small tree near me, and as its color was peculiar I secured it, and 

 found it to be my long-sought- for 'Black Hawk.' Dissection proved it 

 to be an adult female, with ova much enlarged. My measurements were 

 lost, but I remember the iris to have been red." 



