BIRDS — BUTEONINAE — ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS. 



37 



EL ANUS LEUCURUS, Yieillot. 



The White-tailed Hawk; the Black-shonldered Hawk. 



Milvus leucurus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XX, 563, (1818.) 



Falco dispar, Temminck, PI. Col. I, (liv. 54, about 1824.) 



" Falco mtlanoplerus, Daudin." Bonap. Jour. Acad. Philada. V, 28. 



" Falco dispar, Temm." Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 367. 



Figures.— Bonap. Am. Orn. II, pi. 11, fig. 1 ; Temm. PI. Col. 319 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. 352 ; Oct. ed. I, pi. 16 ; Gay, Nat. 

 Hist. Chili, Orn. pi. 2. 



Mult. — Head and tail and entire under parts white. Upper parts fine light cinereous ; lesser wing coverts glossy black, 

 which forms a large oblong patch from the shoulder ; inferior wing coverts white, with a smaller black patch. Middle feathers 

 of Ihe tail light ashy, uniform with other upper parts ; bill dark ; tarsi and toes yellow. 



Total length, female, 15; to 17 inches ; wing, 12 inches ; tail, 7j inches. Male smaller. 



Jiab. — Southern and western States and South America. Spec, in Nat. Mus., Washington, and Mus. Acad., Philadelphia. 



Of this very handsome hawk four specimens are in the collection, two of which are from the 

 neighborhood of San Francisco, California. These specimens are labelled as having been 

 collected in the winter of 1853-'54, which fact, with others of a similar character wliiv,h have 

 come to our knowledge, show that this bird is one of several now known to inhabit a much 

 more northern range of locality on the Pacific than on the Atlantic coast of the United States. 

 Though found in all the States on the southern confines of the United States, the white-tailed 

 hawk has rarely, we believe, been observed north of South Carolina. 



List of specimens. 



ICTINIA, Vieillot. 



Ictinia, "Vieillot, Analyse, p. 24, (1816.) 



General form short and compact. Bill short, tip emarginated ; wings long, pointed ; tail rather short, emarginated ; tarsi 

 short. Contains two species only — one of North and the other of South America. 



ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS, Wilson. 



Mississippi Kite. 



Falco mississippiensis, Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, p. 80, (1811.) 

 Falco ojihiophagus, Vieill. N&uv. Diet. XI, 103, (1817.) 

 " Ictinia plumbea, Gm." Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 108. 



Figures.— Wilson Am. Orn. HI, pi, 25, fig. 1 ; Aud. B. of Am., pi. 117 : Oct. ed. 1, pi. 17. 



Jldult. — Upper parts of body dark lead color, nearly black on the rump ; head and under parts cinereous, darkest on the 

 abdomen ; quills and tail brownish black, the latter with a bluish or purplish lustre ; tips of secondary quills ashy white ; a 

 longitudinal stripe on each web of the primaries, chestnut rufous. 



Young. — Upper parts brownish Mack mixed with dull rufous and white ; head and under parts dull yellowish white, with 

 longitudinal stripes of reddish brown, darker and more numerous on tlie head, lighter and frequently clear rufous on the abdomen. 



Total length, female, about 15 inches ; wing, 11 to 11 j inches ; tail, Gj inches. Male, total length, about 14 inches ; wing, 

 11 inches ; tail, 6 inches. 



Hab — Southern Stales, Texas, and New Mexico, (Woodhouse.) 



