190 FALCONIDJ!. 



quills brown, primaries black at tip, slightly tipped with whitish, 

 barred with darker and more purplish brown, lower surface of quills 

 white, secondaries barred with brown ; eyebrow and sides of face 

 rufous, streaked with brown ; cheeks nearly uniform dark brown ; 

 lores white ; under surface of body yellowish buff, the throat slightly, 

 the breast more broadly streaked with brown, belly and flanks con- 

 spicuously marked with large trefoil spots of dark brown ; flanks 

 barred with pale rufous brown ; under tail-coverts almost entirely 

 white ; under wing-coverts white, the small ones largely, the greater 

 ones more minutely, spotted with dark brown. 



Adult female. Above dark brown, a little lighter on the scapulars 

 and wing- coverts, which are varied slightly with fulvous brown tips 

 and mottlings ; upper tail-coverts and tail clear tawny, slightly 

 mottled and barred with rufous, remains of ten bars being distin- 

 guishable on the latter ; lores whitish ; head and neck all round, 

 including throat and under surface of body, smoky brown, the neck 

 slightly and the chest very plainly inclining to rufous, of which 

 there are a few remains of bars on the thighs ; under tail-coverts 

 rufous, barred with smoky brown ; under surface of tail creamy 

 rufous, with scarcely any indications of bars ; under wing- coverts 

 uniform smoky brown, the lower ones whitish, with brown bars. 

 Total length 24-5 inches, culmen 1-8, wing 17, taU 9-2, tarsus 3-8. 



Adult male. Exactly similar to the female, but smaller. Total 

 length 21-5 inches, wing 16-1, tail 9, tarsus 3-6. 



Hah. Western North America, throughout Central America, and 

 ranging in winter to the southernmost parts of the South American 

 continent. 



a. Juv. St. Sumass Prairie, B. C. J. K. Lord, Esq. fC.]. 



h. § ad. St. West side of Rocky J. K. Lord, Esq. [C.]. 



Mountains. 



'^}^-6 2 j*!"^- sk. West side of Rocky J. K. Lord, Esq. [P.]. 



Mountains. 



e. Juv. sk. California. G. Barclay, Esq. [P.]. 



/. Ad. St. San Francisco, Cal. Admiral Sir E. Belcher [P.]. 



g. cS ad. st. Mexico. Purchased. 



h. 2 ad. St. Mexico. M. A. Boucard [C.]. 



i. 2 ad. sk. Mexico. Zoological Society. 



k. (S juv. sk. Mexico. Purchased. 



I. S ad. sk. Mexico. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



m. Juv. sk. San Jos^, Costa Rica. H. Van Patten [C.]. 



n. Ad. sk. Guatemala. Purchased. 



o. Ad. sk. Panama. Purchased. 



p. Juv. St. Sta. Cruz, Patagonia. C. Darwin, Esq. [C.J. Type 



of B. ventralis. 



The case of the Peregrines appears to repeat itself here in the 

 Red-tailed Buzzards of America, inasmuch as the western birds are 

 different, being much larger, more powerful, and darker-plumaged 

 than the eastern or ordinary specimens of B. borealis. The Museum 

 contains a fine series ; and if the whole of the plumages of B. bo- 

 realis are represented (which is perhaps doubtful), the western bird 

 must be specifically separated, or must at least rank as a subspecies. 



