FALCONID.E — THE FALCOXS. 



171 



LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED. 



National Museum, 104; Boston Society, 26; Philadelphia Academy, 7; Mus. Comp. ZooL, 

 G6 ; New York Museum, 7; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 4; Cab. R. Ridgway, 4. Total, 218. 



Var. isabellinus, Ssvaixson. 



Falco isabellinus, Swaixson, An. Meiiag. p. 281, 18o8. Tinnunculus sparverius, var. isa- 

 hclKnus, Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Phil. Dee. 1870, \). 149. Tinnunculus dominicensis 

 (not of Gmel. !), Stimckl. Orn. Syn. 1, 100, 1855 (iu part only). 



Sp. Char. Adult male (3,841, Prairie Mer Rouge, La., June, 1853 ; " J. F."). Much 

 like var. sparverius, but considerably darker in colors; plumbeous, crown dark with 

 no rufous on vertex, nor darker shaft-lines. Rufous above more purplish-castaneous ; 

 cinereous of wings much darker; neck, jugulum, breast, and sides deep soft ochraceous, 

 spots very few, and restricted to the sides. Wing, 7.00 ; tail, 4.70 ; tarsus, 1.25 ; middle 

 toe, .90; culmen, .50. Wing-formula, 2, 3-4, 1. 



Adult female (58,339, Jacksonville, Fla., June 10, 1869 ; C. J. Maynard). Differing 

 from the female of var. sparverius in much darker colors, the rufous inclining to castaneous; 

 bars broader, more sharply defined, pure black. Head above pure dark plumbeous, con- 

 spir'uously different from the fine light ash of var. sparverius ; vertex with touches only 

 of rufous; markings beneath narrower, and nearly pure black, upon a deeper ochraceous 

 ground. Wing, 7.20 ; tail, 4.50 ; tarsus, 1.20 ; middle toe, .83 ; culmen, .42. Primaries, 

 2, 3 -1,4. 



Hab. North Atlantic and Caribbean coasts of South America, from Demerara north- 

 ward, alone: the Gulf coast of Mexico and United States, throug-h Texas and Louisiana to 

 Florida. 



This form, though quite dift'erent in its extreme condition from true spar- 

 verins, gradually grades into it. Few, if any, other specimens possess in so 

 exaggerated a degree all the distinctive characters of those described, though 

 all from the regions indicated agree in having darker colors and less rufous on 

 the crown than specimens from the interior of North and IMiddle America. 



A series of six adu4t male -Sparrow Hawks from Florida, kindly loaned me 

 for examination hy Mr. J. A. Allen, includes three typical examples of this 

 littoral race of subtropical continental America. They all agree in very deep 

 dark colors, entire absence or merely slight indication of rufous on the vertex, 

 and deeply ochraceous breast, with few markings. No. 14,499 (Miami, Fla., 

 June 19, 1871) is remarkable for lacking entirely the black spots on wings 

 and flanks, and bars on the back or longer scapulars ; the three outer tail- 

 feathers are almost wholly ashy-white, with about five transverse spots of 

 black ; the terminal white band is strongly tinged with ash ; there is no 

 trace of rufous on the crown. Wing, 6.80 ; tail, 4.80. 



In the unspotted wings and sides and unbarred scapulars there is a resem- 



