FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 



265 



blackish slate, narrowly'' paler at the tip, and crossed with numerous oblique bars of 

 dusky black ; upper tail-coverts barred obsoletely with lighter slaty-brown. Wing, 15.00; 

 tail, 8.00; tarsus, 2.20; middle toe, 1.50. Fourth quill longest; third, next; second, 

 shorter than fifth; first, slightly shorter than eigl)th. 



Adult female (12,927, Utah Valley, July; C. S. McCarthy). Similar; lower tail-cov- 

 erts wliite, tinged with rusty, and barred with brown ; tibiu3 tinged with chestnut. Wing, 

 16.50; tail, 8.80; tarsus, 2.G0 ; middle toe, 1.65. Third and fourth quills equal and long- 

 est ; third shorter than fifth ; first equal to eighth. 



LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED. 



National Museum, 27 ; Philadelphia Academy, 2 ; Boston Society, 1 ; Museum, Cam- 

 bridge, 1 ; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 2 ; W. Brewster, 1 ; R. Ridgway, 5. Total, 39. 



Measurements. 



Had. Western regions of North America, east to the Mississippi Valley, north to the 

 Arctic regions ; Wisconsin ; Arkansas ; Canada ; Massachusetts. 



Locahties : S. Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865. 324); Arizona (Coues?) ; Guatemala (Scl. 

 Ibis, I, 216, " insignatus "). 



The young plumage described above is the Butco hairdi, Hoy, of authors. 

 The melanistic plumage is B. insig^iatus, Cassin. 



The young birds of this species are as variable as the adults ; thus, No. 

 53,210, ^, has the fine ochraceous of the lower parts entirely free from 

 spots, except across the breast ; on the upper parts the ochraceous spotting 

 is so extended as to almost prevail, while another, from the same nest, has the 

 black beneath exceeding the ochraceous, the tibise being thickly spotted, and 

 the lower tail-coverts barred. Both these specimens belong to a brood of 

 four, which were hardly able to fly, and were sliot, with their parents, the 

 male of which is the one described, while the female (No. 53,206) is a very 

 dark example of insignatus, Cassin. 



The type of hairdi, and anotlier Wisconsin specimen, are in the collection 

 of the Philadelphia Academy. In plumage, they are unlike any others I 

 liave seen, though there is as little resemblance between these two as be- 

 tween any I have compared. Dr. Hoy's type (Eacine, Wise, January, 1854) 

 differs from others, in exceedingly pale colors ; the cream-color beneath is 

 scarcely spotted, there being only a few triangular spots and shaft-lines of 

 black on the sides ; the lining of the wing is entirely immaculate. Above, 

 the black is unusually continuous ; the under surface of the primaries is 

 unusually white. Wing, 15.00 ; tail, 8.00. 



The other specimen (Menonomee Marsli, JMilwaukee, Wise, spring of 1851) 

 is just the opposite extreme in plumage, being unusually dark, for a young 

 bird. Beneath, the black spots are so large as to nearly cover the whole 

 surface, while the continuity of the black of the upper part is almost un- 

 broken. The head above, and nape, and broad " mustache " stripe from 



VOL. III. 34 



