FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 237 



one seized another dowitcher that I had killed and escaped with it 

 to the shelter of the mangroves. 



Clearly marked color differences that have been alleged to separate 

 this form from B. a. anthracinus are not verified in the considerable 

 series that I have had available, the only character being that of 

 lesser size. These smaller birds are found in Pacific coastal areas in 

 mangroves, and in the swampy woodlands immediately inland, from 

 the mouth of the Rio Tumbes in northwestern Peru, and the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil (Puna Island), Ecuador, north along the coast of Colombia 

 (Nuqui), and Central America to Chiapas. Those from Peru, 

 Ecuador and southwestern Colombia have the central area of the 

 inner primaries and the secondaries heavily marked with cinnamon- 

 brown (cross-banded with black) that forms a prominent patch on 

 the folded wing. These are the race Buteogallus a. subtilis Thayer 

 and Bangs, described from Gorgona Island, Colombia. Birds from 

 Panama and from the coast of Colombia south to Nuqui, Choco, 

 have the general coloration of the wing more uniform as the cin- 

 namon is restricted or almost absent. These may be recognized as 

 a slightly different subspecies, bangsi Swann. Intergradation is pre- 

 sumed to take place along the Colombian coast below Buenaventura. 

 The type of bangsi, though marked as a male, has a wing length of 

 363 mm. so that it must be a female. 



Monroe (Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Louisiana State Univ. no. 26, 1963, 

 pp. 1-5) has described a northern race rhizophorae from El Salvador 

 and Honduras, which differs in the adult in lack of rufous or buff on 

 primaries and secondaries. As no intergradation in wing size between 

 anthracinus and the coastal population is evident he treats the smaller 

 birds as a distinct species under the name subtilis. The suggestion is 

 interesting and one that requires careful consideration in further 

 field studies. 



Amadon (Nov. Colombianas, vol. 1, no. 1, Sept. 1, 1961 = 1963, p. 

 358) has identified specimens of subtilis from Tumbes, northwestern 

 Peru, which marks an extension in range southward to this point. 

 An early report for this locality is that of Taczanowski (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, 1877, p. 745), who, under the name of "Urubitinga 

 schistacea (Sund.)," lists two males and a female from Santa Luzia, 

 Peru. In his Ornithologie du Perou (vol. 1, 1884, pp. 109-110) he 

 describes these specimens in careful detail. Sundevall's name properly 

 refers to another hawk of similar color pattern now known as 

 Leucopternis schistacea (Sundevall). It appears evident that 

 Taczanowski made his error in identification through reference to 



