BIRDS — BUTEONINAE — BITTEO SWAINSONI. 



19 



List of specimens. 



Sub-Family BUTEONINAE— T h e Buzzards. 



General form heavy, flight vigorous and long continued, but not so rapid as in the preceding sub-families. Subsist mainly on 

 small quadrupeds and reptiles. 



BUTEO, Cuvier. 



Buleo, CnviER, Regno Animal I, 323, (1817.) 



Bill short, wide at base ; edges of upper mandible lobed ; nostrils large, ovate ; wings long, wide, fourth and fiflh quills usually 

 longest ; tail moderate, rather wide ; tarsi moderate, robust, with transverse scales before and behind, laterally witli small circular 

 and hexagonal scales ; toes moderate, or rather short ; claws strong. Contains about thirty species, inhabiting all countries. 



Sub-Genus Buteo. 



BUTEO SWAINSONI, Bonaparte. 



Swainson's Bnzzard. 



Buteo Sirainsowi, Bokap. Comp. List, p. 3, (1838.) 



"Buleo vulgaris," Rich & Sw. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 47. 



The obtaining of thi.s species is one of the most interesting results in ornithology attained by 

 the surveying and exploring expeditions. Previously it was entirely unknown to American 

 naturalists, who for the greater part followed the errors of European ornithologists in mistaking 

 for it quite a distinct and very different bird, (Buteo montanus, Nuttall.) It possesses additional 

 interest, too, in being more nearly related to a generic form of the Old World (typical Buteo) 

 than any bird hitherto discovered inhabiting the continent of America. 



All the specimens in the present collection are apparently of mature size, and the plumage is 



