438 BULLETIN 5 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



slightly longer than inner toe, both extending to much beyond penulti- 

 mate articulation of middle toe, the claw of outer toe about half as 

 long as the digit, that of inner toe shghtly longer than the digit; 

 hallux as long as inner toe, its claw longer than the digit. 



Plumage and coloration. — Loral region rather densely clothed with 

 small, fine bristles; mandibular rami bare; feathers of pileum becoming 

 gradually larger posteriorly, those of occiput considerably, but not 

 conspicuously, elongated, subcuneate, forming a slight erectile crest; 

 feathers of upperparts rather broad, rounded terminally, distinctly 

 outlined, those of underparts softer and more blended; plumage of 

 thighs distinctly, but not conspicuously elongated, plumelike, those 

 of tarsi much shorter, close, and blended. Head, neck, and underparts 

 white, the lores and spots on occiput black; upperparts plain black or 

 blackish brown, the tail crossed by four or five broad bands of blackish 

 and grayish brown. 



Range. — Continental tropical America, from southern North 

 America to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. (Monotypic.) 



SPIZASTUR MELANOLEUCUS (Vieillot) 



Black-and-white Eagle-Hawk 



Adult (sexes alike in coloration). — Loreal and narrow circumocular 

 areas black (bristlelike feathers) ; forehead, anterior and lateral parts 

 of crown, sides of occiput and nape, and entire underparts immaculate 

 white; posterior portion of crown and median part of occiput black, 

 the black confined to the apical portion of the feathers and the basal 

 white areas often showing through, giving the region a somewhat 

 streaked appearance; scapulars, interscapulars, upper back, back, 

 rump, and all the upper wing coverts, except those of the lesser ones 

 at the bend of the wing, black with a slight oily greenish sheen, the 

 bases of the feathers bone brown, the latter color showing through 

 among the black to a varying degree; remiges bone brown to fuscous 

 very narrowly tipped with pale hair brown to drab and even white, 

 subterminally broadly blackish, the inner webs broadly white on the 

 inner edge for their basal half or m^ore, the remiges crossed incom- 

 pletely by four or five blackish bands anterior to the sub terminal one; 

 under surface of remiges white where fuscous above ; upper tail coverts 

 dark olive-brown subterminally darkening to fuscous; rectrices 

 grayish hair brown, the median pair sometimes slightly less grayish 

 than the others, narrowly tipped with white, subterminally broadly 

 banded with black and crossed by three incomplete and much narrower 

 blackish bands anterior to this; ms straw yellow; cere and basal part 

 of the mandible reddish orange; bill black; tarsi and toes Indian yel- 

 low; claws black. 



