FALCONID^.— BUTEO MONTANUS. 27 



as new, and a distinct one from the B. vulgaris, by Bonaparte (Geog. and Conip. 

 List, p. 3), who named it Buteo swainsoni, in honor of Mr. Swainson, who was 

 the first to describe it. The third species, Buteo montanus, or ^yestern Eed-tail, 

 was first given as a distinct bird by Mr. Nuttall; but its claims to this distinc- 

 tion have remained unrecognized until very recently. Mr. Audubon, in each of his 

 several works, has regarded Swainson's Buzzard as identical with the European, 

 and has even added to the prevailing confusion, by figuring, in his representation of 

 it, the young of a difiierent species, probably B. montanus. Subsequently, Mr. Cassin, 

 in the carefully prepared Synopsis accompanying his Illustrations of the Birds of 

 California and Texas, classed both the Western varieties under the single name of 

 Buteo swainsoni. Afterwards, in his paper on the Falconidce of North America, 

 published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 February, 1855, Mr. Cassin recognized B. swainsoni by its true specific characters, 

 having then for the first time seen three undoubted specimens of that bird in the 

 collection made by Mr. Kreutzfeldt, of Lieutenant Beckwith's party. Referring to 

 Buteo boreaUs, in the same paper, he did not regard it as specifically distinct from 

 the Western variety. He says : — 



" In the comparison of numerous specimens of adults and young, from various 

 localities in Western North America, with others obtained in the vicinity of Phila- 

 delphia, I have failed to detect any difierences not consistent with specific identity. 

 There is in some specimens a greater extent of the broAvn color on the breast, and a 

 deeper shade of rufous on the abdomen and tibise, than are usual in Eastern speci- 

 mens; but I have found no character in the Western bird that I have not seen at 

 some time in the other." 



Mr. Cassin's attention having been called to the fact that the eggs of the Eastern 

 and Western species present constant and well-marked diff"erences, in another paper, 

 published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natui-al Sciences, 

 February, 1856, he referred the Western variety to Mr. Nuttall's Buteo montanus, 

 as given in the 1840 edition of his Manual of the Ornithology of the United States. 

 In this last paper he says : — 



" On examination of not less than twenty specimens of this bird, from various 

 localities in the Western countries of North America, I have found the characters 

 constantly present which distinguish it from the Buteo borealis, as pointed out in 

 my Birds of California and Texas, p. 98. The voice of this species is represented 

 by several of the late naturalists who have visited California as quite peculiar, and 

 I am assured by my friend. Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, of Boston, that the egg is entirely 

 different from that of B. borealis. Though nearly related to that species, it is very 

 probably entitled to be regarded as distinct, for which purpose Mr. Nuttall's name, 

 as above given, is proper." 



In regard to the range of the bird, we have yet to leam with certainty the extent 

 of its general distribution. It appears to be of very common occurrence in and about 

 California, being brought in nearly every collection from tliat part of the country. 

 It also occurs among the birds obtained by Drs. Suckley and Cooper in Washing- 

 ton Territory. Dr. Townsend procured several specimens in the Rocky Moimtains. 



