Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue of Accipitres. 473 



barred with white on the outer yveh." Mr. Ridgway, in his 

 ' Studies of the American Falconidse/ to which I have already 

 referred, describes this species (at p. 176) as having the 

 "pileum and nape sometimes streaked ^^ with black, and 

 sometimes " immaculate/^ A specimen from Cayenne, in the 

 collection of Messrs. Salvin and Godman, agrees with Mr. 

 Sharpens description in this respect, but also has the white 

 feathers of the hinder head conspicuously variegated by broad 

 slaty-black shaft-marks. Of two specimens in the Norwich 

 Museum, one closely resembles the Cayenne example just 

 mentioned ; but the other has the shaft-marks on the crown of 

 the head narrower and less conspicuous, as though they were 

 in process of gradually disappearing : this specimen is from 

 Quito, and is the most westerly example of this species which 

 has come under my notice ; the locality of the other specimen 

 at Norwich is doubtful. 



Mr. Ridgway thus describes the markings on the tail of 

 this Buzzard : — " Tail white at the base and end, the middle 

 portion black ; this black band of variable width, sometimes 

 occupying the greater portion of the tail, but in a specimen 

 from Bogota restricted to a subterminal band about 2"50 

 inches wide." Mr. Sharpens description appears to have been 

 taken from a specimen in which the tail resembles the bird 

 described by Mr. Ridgway from Bogota ; but Messrs. Salvin 

 and Godman's specimen from Cayenne and the two in the 

 Norwich Museum have the markings on the tail in accordance 

 with the first description supplied by Mr. Ridgway. 



The following is a detailed description of these markings 

 in the Cayenne specimen above referred to : — All the rec- 

 trices, save the two outermost pairs, are entirely black, ex- 

 cept a narrow white basal band, which is hidden by the upper 

 tail-coverts, and excepting also a w^hite terminal band, extend- 

 ing across all the rectrices, and about 1"3 inch in breadth; 

 on the outer pair the basal white band is visible for 1*5 inch 

 below the tip of the upper tail-coverts, as it is also on the 

 next pair ; but on these it is imperfect, being intersected by 

 black barring on the outer web ; the under sm*£ace of the 

 tail is white, with a central transverse black band 3" 5 inches 

 in width. 



