24 



U. S. p. R. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



List of specimens. 



BUTEO HARLANI, Audubon. 

 Harlau's Buzzard ; The Black Warrior. 



Falco Harlani, Acd. Orn. Biog. I, 441, (1831, plate published 1830.) 



"Bijfeo Borealis," Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. Accipitres, p. 34. 



BuUo Harlani, Aud. Lawrence, Annals N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist. V, p. 220. 



Figure.— Aud. B. of Am., pi. 86, Oct. ed. 1, pi. 8. 



Mult. About the size of, or rather smaller tlian, Buteo borealls. Robust ; bill rather short, strong ; edges of upper mandible 



lobed ; wing rather long ; tail moderate ; legs strong ; tarsus feathered in front below the joint, naked behind, in front having 

 about nine or ten transverse scales, and about fifteen behind ; claws very strong, sharp, fully curved. Entire plumage 

 brownish black, with a purplish lustre on the back and wing coverts. Front white, and all the feathers of the head above and 

 occiput white at base, easily observed on the latter. Quills brownish black, witli transverse bands of a lighter shade, and with 

 a portion of tlieir inner webs ashy white, giving a nearly uniform ashy white color to the under surface of the wing ; under wing 

 coverts brownish blacls. Tail mottled with brownish black, ashy and white, the former predominating, a rather wide subtcr- 

 minal band of brownish black above and below, which are tinges of bright rufous ; tip paler ; under surface of tlie tail ashy 

 white, slightly mottled with ashy brown. Bill dark bluish ; legs greenish yellow. 



Youn". Entire upper ports light brown, dull fulvous, and white ; tips of the feathers generally with a large ovoid spot of 



brown, bordered with dull fulvous, and white at base, the fulvous and white predominating on tlie head and wing coverts ; 

 rump with nearly regular transverse bands of brown and reddisli fulvous ; quills dark brown ; under surface (of quills) white ; 

 under wino' coverts white, spotted with brown, and rufous or reddish fulvous ; tail light ashy, tinged with reddish, and with 

 about six or seven irregular and imperfect narrow bands of brownish black, all of which are edged with dark reddish fulvous ; 

 tip white. Under parts white, nearly pure on tlie throat and breast, with ovate and sagittate large spots on the neck before 

 sides and abdomen ; tibiae and under tail coverts with nearly regular bands of brown and pale reddish ; under surface of the tail 

 ashy white. Bill dark bluish ; legs greenish yellow. 



Total length (adult) about 21 inches ; wing 16, tail 93^ inches. 



In the collection brought by the surveying parly under the command of Captain John Pope, 

 United States army, are two specimens of the bird wliich we suppose to be Buteo Harlani. 

 These were obtained near Fort Thorne, New Mexico, by T. Charlton Henry, M. D., United 

 States army, and, with that described, as above cited, by Mr. George N. Lawrence, are the 

 only ones yet detected within the limits of the United States. We have seen other specimens 

 of the same species from Mexico. One of the prei^nt specimens, like that of Mr. Lawrence, is 

 adult in black plumage ; the other is very probably the young, and in plumage totally different, 

 as described above. 



This bird comes very near the description by Mr. Audubon in his Ornithological Biography, 

 I, p. 441, and is the same species decided by Mr. Lawrence to be the Buteo Harlani of that 

 author, and first announced by him as a species of western North America in the Annals of the 

 New York Lyceum of Natural Ilistory, as above cited. In botli size and colors, our present 



