PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued iMr^iVj-^ O^s^i ^H '^* 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 84 Washington : 1936 No. 3003 



TWO NEW SPECIES OF HAWKS FROM THE MIOCENE 



OF NEBRASKA 



By Alexander Wetmore 



Assistant Seci-etary, Smitfisoiiian Institution 



From collections made by Ted Galuslia, the United States National 

 Museum recently has obtained two fragmentary metatarsi that repre- 

 sent, respectively, new species in the families Accipitridae and Fal- 

 conidae. Both are of more than usual interest, the first because it 

 reveals an additional American species of the subfamily Aegypiinae, 

 whose living representatives are found only in the Old World, and 

 the second because it carries the group of falcons in America back 

 into the Miocene. 



In connection with work on the falcon I have had the benefit of 

 examination of the type of Falco falconelhis Shufeldt, of uncertain 

 status, through the kindness of Dr. Richard S. Lull and Dr. Malcolm 

 R. Thorpe, of the Peabody Museum, Yale University. The drawings 

 herein were made for me by Sidney Prentice. 



Family ACCIPITRIDAE 

 Genus PALAEOBORUS Coues 



PALAEOBORUS HOWARDAE, new species 



Characters. — Distal end of tarso-metatarsus (fig. 13) similar to 

 that of Palaeohorus umhrosus (Cope)^ but slightly larger; outer 

 intertrochlear sulcus broader; middle trochlea relatively larger; 



1 Cathartes umhrosus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 26, Oct. 10, 1874, p. 

 151. Metatarsus illustrated in Cope, Rep. U. S. Geogr. Surv. West 100th Merid., vol. 4, 

 pt. 2, 1877, pi. 67, figs. 15, 15a, 15c. 



73 



92744—36 



