196 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The eggs are described by Mr. Audubon as from four to six in number, 

 of a greenish-white color, with a few irregular blotches of dark brown at 

 the larger end. The drawing of an egg, obtained by Dr. Trudeau in Lou- 

 isiana, and which was made by that gentleman, is very nearly spheroidal, 

 and its measurements are, length 1.75 inches, breadth 1.56. It corresponds 

 with Mr. Audubon's description of tlie egg of this Hawk. 



An egg in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, taken in Iowa 

 by Mr. Krider, does not correspond very well with the description and figure 

 mentioned. It measures 1.80 in length by 1.40 in breadth ; its form is very 

 regularly oval, both ends being of nearly the same shape. The ground-color 

 is a creamy white, one end (the smaller) splashed with large confluent 

 blotches of ferruginous, and the remainder of the surface more sparsely spot- 

 ted with the same ; these rusty blotches are relieved by smaller, sparser 

 spots of very dark brown. 



Dr. Cooper, in a letter dated Sioux City, May 21, 1860, mentions finding 

 the nest of this Hawk in a high tree in Northwestern Iowa, latitude 41° 30'. 

 The bird had not begun to lay. 



Genus ELANUS, Savigny. 



Elanus, Sav. 1809. (Type, Falco melanopterus, Daudin.) 

 Milans, Boie, 1822. 



G-EN. Char. Bill rather small and narrow, the tip normtil ; commissure moderately 

 sinuated ; upper outline of lower mandible greatly arched, the height at base less than 

 half that through middle ; gonys almost straight, declining downward toward tip. 

 Nostril roundish, in middle of cere. Tarsus and toes (except terminal joint) covered with 

 small roundish scales ; under surface of claws just perceptibly flattened ; sharp lateral 



5895. H 



/■:% 



5895, 



Elanus leumrus. 



5895, 



ridge on middle claw very prominent; a very slight membrane between outer and middle 

 toes. Second quill longest, third very slightly shorter; first just exceeding fourth; second 

 and third with outer webs slightly sinuated ; inner web of first emarginated, of second 

 sinuated. Tail peculiar, emarginated, but the lateral feather much shorter than the 

 middle, the one next to it being the longest. 



The species of this well-marked genus are confined to the tropical and 

 subtropical portions of the world, and appear to be only two in number, of 

 which one is cosmopolitan, and tlie other peculiar to the Old World. 



