26 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



described as 2 A inches in length by IM in breadth ; its ground is a yellowish-white 

 or cream-color ; sub-markings of a purplish-gray occur ; over the entire egg, in scat- 

 tered, irregular patches, are spots and blotches of a very light tone of umber-brown, 

 but these are nowhere coniluent or frequent in number. Traces of these markings 

 exist" in the Arkansas specimen, but so faintly, that they would, unless looked for 

 carefully, be mistaken for accidental discolorations. In regard to its exact locality, 

 or the circumstances attending its discovery, I am unable at present to add anything. 



BUTEO MOIfTANUS. 



Falco hitco, AiTD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 508, pi. ccclxxii. 

 Biiteo vulgaris 1 Aud. Syn. 1839, p. 5. 



" " Birds of America, I, 1840, 30, pi. vi .' 



Biitco moniana, Nuttall, Manual, I, 1840, 112. 



Biiteo swainsoni, Cassin, Syn. N. A. Birds (lUust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 98. 

 BiUeo horealis, Cassin, Notes on N. A. Falconids, — Proc. Piiil. Acad. Feb. 1855, p. 279. 

 BiUeo montanus, Cassin, Proc. Phil. Acad. Feb. 1856, p. 39. 



VuLG. — The Western Buzzard. The Western Red-tailed Hawk. White-throated Buzzard. 



Three separate species of North American Hawks, having a more or less close 

 resemblance, have been confounded one with the other. At least their specific 

 distinctness has not until very recently been well ascertained. These, as has been 

 already stated, are the common Red-tailed Hawk (Bufeo horealis) of the Atlantic 

 States, Swainson's Buzzard (Buteo swainsoni, Bonap.), and the Western Eed-tailed 

 Hawk (Buteo montanus). The last named has only recently had its claims to be 

 received as a distinct species duly recognized. The obscurity which has rested 

 over these claims of the Western Red-tail to be regarded as specifically distinct, 

 has at last yielded to the results of Mr. Cassin's diligent investigations ; and the 

 uncertainties which have hitherto pre^'ailed may now be considered as having 

 been entirely removed by the satisfactory paper of that naturalist. A brief review 

 of the history of these gradual steps towards our present knowledge may not be 

 inappropriate in this connection. 



The common Red-tailed Hawk of the Atlantic States was known to the earliest 

 American naturalists. Its distinguishing characters have always been regarded as 

 well defined, and the species has been well known to all American ornithologists. 

 The bird now received as a good species, under the name of Swainson's Buzzard, 

 was first described in Richardson and Swainson's Fauna Boreali-Americana, as iden- 

 tical with the Common Buzzard [Buteo vulgaris) of Europe.^ It is there spoken 

 of as quite a common bird in the fur countries. This species was first claimed 



1 In the same work, Mr. Swainson described, as the female of this species, a bird which is not identi- 

 cal with it, but is probably a female B. montanus in an immature plumage. 



