FALCONID^ — THE HAWKS — BUTEO. 



479 



Buteo zonocercus, Sclater. 

 THE BAITD-TAILED BLACK HAWK. 



Buteo zonocercus, Sclater, Proe. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1859, 2C3 ; pi. 59. — CouES, Pr. A. N. Sc. 

 1866, 46. — Elliot, 11Iu.s. B. N. A. II. pi. 33. 



Sp. Char. Male. Of the size of iJ. (Vii/^/io^Hs, C'assiii, moderately robust ; bill small ; 

 lobe of upper mandible slight ; wings and tail long ; feet rather weak ; tarsus feathered in 

 front more than one third of its length, and with eleven transverse seales ; naked behind ; 

 claws moderate, curved, the hind claw forming nearly a .semicircle. 



Color. Almost entirely black, slightly tinged with brown, the head and neck somewhat 



B. zonocenus. 



ashy ; feathers not lustrous. A narrow white band across base of upper mandible ; feathers 

 of head and neck white at base, and mixed with white down over rest of the body. (Quills 

 brownish, inner side mottled with ashy, but not banded : un<ler wing coverts black. Tail 

 black above, tipped with ashy-white, and with two ashy bands, half an iuch wide, at 



