60 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



unifonnly the larger in size and in shape, and are somewhat more oblong. In the 

 largest, the measurement of which is given above, the ground color is nearly pure 

 Avhite with a slight pinkish tinge, nearly unspotted at the smaller end, and only 

 marked by a few light blotches of a sepia-brown. These markings increase both in 

 size and frequency, and become of a deeper shade, as they are nearer the larger end, 

 until they become almost black, and around this extremity they form a large conflu- 

 ent ring of blotches and dashes of a dark sepia. The second in size, which is but 

 just perceptibly smaller, has a ground color of light russet, or rather white with a 

 very slight russet tinge, and is marked over its entire surface, in about equal pro- 

 portion, with irregular lines and broad dashes of dark sepia. In the third, the 

 ground is of the deepest russet, or tan-color, and in the smallest, of the same, but of 

 a somewhat lighter shade, and both are beautifully marked with deep blotches of a 

 dark sepia, almost black. The eggs of this species are much more oblong than 

 those of most birds of prey, and in this respect also show their relation to the Vul- 

 tures rather than to the Hawks or Eagles. They are pyriform, the smaller end 

 tapers quite abruptly, and varies much more, in its proportions, from the larger ex- 

 tremity, than the eggs of any true Hawk with which I am acquainted. 



MORPHNUS UNICINCTUS. 



Faico unicinctus, Temm. PI. Col. I, 1827, 313. 



" " Gay, Fauna Chilena, Aves, 1855, p. 216. 



Falco harrisii, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1835, 30, pi. cccxcii. 



" " BoNAP. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 3. 



Buteo harrisii, Aud. Syn. 1839, p. 5. 



« " " Birdsof Am. I, 1840, 25, pi. V. 



Polylorus tmniurus, Tschudi, Wiegm. Archiv. X, 1844, 263. 



" " " Fauna Peruana, Orn. pi. i. 



Morphnus unicinctus, Gassin, Syn. N. A. Birds, 1854 (Illust. Birds of Gal.), p. 114. 

 " " Birds of Gilliss's U. S. Nav. Astron. Ex. II, 1855, 174. 



VuLG. — Harris's Buzzard. Red-ieinged Hawk. Red-winged Buzzard. Peuco. Aquililla 

 (Berlandier, MSS. Mexico). 



This Hawk has a very limited range within the United States. Mr. Audubon, 

 who was the first to meet with it within the limits of the Union, obtained a single 

 specimen in Louisiana. Supposing it to be an undescribed species, he named it in 

 honor of his friend, Mr. Edward Harris, a distinguished naturalist of New Jersey. 

 It had, however, been previously described by Temminck. 



The Red-Avinged Buzzard is occasionally found in the lower portions of the States 

 of Mississippi and Louisiana. It becomes much more abundant in the southwestern 

 sections of the latter State, and in Texas is a very common species, especially about 



