46 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



adult as well as juvcnal plumage based on specimens. I have seen nothing 

 of this bird on the Island. There is a chance that this is a case of mistaken 

 identity, and that the very closely allied Accipiter jringilloides was the 

 species that Gundlach really had. 



59. Buteo borealis umbrinus Bangs. 

 Florida Red-tailed Hawk; Gavilan del Monte. 



One of my first sights of Red-tailed Hawks was when in the Lomas 

 de los Acostas, far in western Cuba, the peasant women called from ridge 

 to ridge in the high open savanna hills the news that the Gavilanes del 

 Monte were about. Other women then far and wide would come out from 

 their tiny highland huts and call to their fowls the well-known warning. 

 Red-tailed Hawks may be seen flying high in the air over any of the wilder 

 parts of the Island, but they are especially common about the high lomas, 

 the dry, sparsely grown granitic hills of Pinar del Rio. Here they have 

 better chance to observe their prey than about the forested sierras. 



Birds from Cuba belong to the subspecies which is characteristic of 

 Florida, and are indistinguishable from this form. 



60. Buteo platypterus platypterus (\'ieillot). 

 Broad-winged Hawk. 



The Cuban Broad-winged Hawk is, according to Kirke Swann, not 

 to be distinguished from mainland birds. On this account Burns's sub- 

 specific name of cubanensis may be considered as invalid. 



This Hawk is far less rare than the Red-tailed, and more widely 

 distributed. It is, however, disappearing with deforestation and is certain 

 soon to be very rare. It is characteristic of the edges of the forests, and of 

 quiet wood lanes, and is rarely seen near houses or plantations. It feeds 

 usually on small birds, according to Gundlach, but Ramsden has recorded 

 it catching minnows which were massed together in shallow pools after 

 long drought (Auk, vol. 28, p. 485, 191 1). 



