SAINT LUCAS RED-TAIL. " 217 



74. Buteo borealis lucasanus Ridgway. 



SAINT LUCAS RED-TAIL. 



Buteo borealis var. lucasanus Ridgway, in Coues's Key to North American Birds, 



1S72, 31G (under B. borealis). 

 (B — , C 3516, R 436c, C 518, U 337c.) 



Geographical range : Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. 



Tlie St. Lucas Red-tail, a scarcely tenable race, very similar to B. horealis 

 calurus excepting that the black bars on the tail of the adult are generally 

 wanting, is confined to the Cape St. Lucas region of Lower California. Its 

 ]ia])its, nests, and eggs^ are like those of the Western Red-tail which occupies 

 the same localities. 



Since this was written, Mr. William Brew.ster has made a careful study 

 of this supposed subspecies, and in a letter to me, dated March \b, 1891, 

 he makes the following remarks: "In my opinion there is no such l)ird 

 as Buteo horcaJis Iiirasa)U(f<. Tlie type and the mounted specimen in the U. S. 

 National Museum collection are simply lightly l)anded specimens of the 

 Western Red-tail. Both have the band, but it is indistinct. I can match the 

 mounted bird by specimens from Ijoth Lower California and Arizona. I 

 brought together nearly one hundred skins, including over tliirtv from Lower 

 California; the latter as a series show no peculiarities so far as I can see. 

 The type of Buteo borealis lucasanus is certainly peculiar in respect to the 

 tail, but in no other way." I fully agree with Mr. Brewster's conclusions. 



75. Buteo borealis harlani (Audubon). 



haelan's hawk. 



Falco harlani Audubon, Birds of America, i, 1830, 441, PI. 80. 

 Buieo borealis liarlani Ridgway, Auk, vii, 1890, 205. 



(B 22, C 350, R 438, C 515, U 337fZ.) 



Geographical range: Gulf States and Lower Mississippi Valley; north (casually) 

 to Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, aud Pennsylvania ; east to Georgia and Florida. 



Harlan's Hawk, which till recently figured as a distinct species, is now 

 considered only a variety of Buteo borealis. It is the darkest of the difterent 

 geograjihical races of this species, and ranges from northern Florida, Georgia, 

 the (iidf States, and the Lower Mississippi Valley, north to Kansas, Iowa, 

 Illinois, and Pennsylvania. 



All we know about the breeding habits of this subspecies is Audubon's 

 statement, who first described this Hawk from a j)air obtained by him near 

 St. F'rancisville, Louisiana, which had bred in that neighborhood for two 

 seasons; were shy and difficult of a|)|)roac]i, and for a long- while eluded liis 

 pursuit. ' 



'History of North American Birds, 1874, Vol. iii, p. 294. 



