l&iG.-i PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 623 



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No. B.— Hawk. 9. Sp.!. Morue Rouge, 26 March 1885. 16-| inches 

 "by 34 inches by 10^ inches. 



I was pleased to learn that the Hawk had come to hand, and that 

 it was new to the Antilles. It is a resident, though not numerous, and 

 seems to prefer the vicinity of the sea-coast. 1 saw a nest about half 

 a mile from the sea ; it was built in. an inaccessible tree, so that I could 

 not procure the eggs, but the birds I identified clearly. This was 

 about the middle of March. 



[This hawk is an interesting addition to the fauna of the Lesser 

 Antilles; the two specimens sent by Mr. Wells differ in plumage from 

 any others I have met with. It seems to be a species of most variable 

 plumage. I have two specimens of it; one is from Brazil, the upper 

 plumage of which is of very dark-brown color ; the under plumage is 

 white, connecting with which is a band of white on the hind neck : the 

 tail is marked with alternate bars of black and plumbeous-gray, and 

 terminates with white. The other from Gautemala is entirely of a deep 

 slate-black, with a broad white band across the mid die of the tail. 



In the American Museum of Natural History are six specimens of it? 

 differing very much in plumage from each other. 



The Grenada birds are entirely unlike my specimens, or any single 

 specimen in the American Museum. The male has its upper plumage 

 of a dark plumbeous-slate color, there is a band of bright light rufous 

 around the hind-neck, bordered below with deep rich brown ; the upper 

 tail coverts have light plumbeous margins; the tail feathers are black, 

 crossed with two bauds of plumbeous-gray, and are white at their bases ; 

 the quills are brownish-ash barred with black ; the under plumage is 

 dull white, closely crossed with bars of bright brownish-rufous ; under 

 tail coverts pale rufous, marked with narrow bars of darker rufous ; 

 the upper mandible is black, the under plumbeous, with the end whitish ; 

 tarsi and toes yellow, claws* black. 



The female differs in having the upper plumage dark brown, the 

 feathers of which are conspicuously margined with deep bright rufous ; 

 the wings are deep rufous barred with black ; the under plumage is very 

 similar to that of the male, but the rufous bars are lighter and brighter 

 in color. 



Of the American Museum specimens only one is crossed underneath 

 with rufous bars like the Grenada examples, but its upper plumage is 

 quite different. Taking the under plumage of this specimen and the 

 upper plumage of another, a similar stage of plumage to that of the 

 male Grenada bird is made out; this last one, with the plumbeous up- 

 per plumage, is underneath of a light bluish-ash, barred with white, 

 and has no nuchal collar, and no rufous color whatever in its plumage 



In the specimens I have had under examination, there are at least six 

 very distinct stages of plumage. — G. N. L.] 



