286 NOKTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



a barred tail, entirely continuous black above, plain white throat patch, and 

 other minor differences, besides having a quite different young plumage. As 

 to the young plumage of var. lucasanus, I cannot find any character by 

 which it can with certainty be distinguished from that of var. calurus. 



Var. calurus, Cassin. 



WESTERN RED-TAIL; BLACK RED-TAIL. 



Butco calurus, Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. VII, 281, 1855 ; Birds N. Am. 1858, 22. 

 — Stkickl. Orn. Sjm. I, 38, 1855. — Coues, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 8, 1866. —Gray, 

 Hand List, I, 7, 1869. Buteo montanus (not of Nuttall !), Cassin, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 26. — Newb. P. E. R. Kept. VI, iv, 1857. — Heerm. P. R. R. Rept. VII, 31, 

 1857. — Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 147, 1860. — Coues, Prod. Orn. x\riz. 

 p. 7, 1866. — Butco swainsoni (not of Bonap !), Cass. B. Cal. & Tex. p. 98, 1854. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Similar to var. borealts, but darker, with more rufous and blackish 

 in the plumage ; tibiae always, and flanks and orissum usually, barred with rufous ; throat 

 with the dark streaks suffused and widened, so as to form the prevailing color. Tail with 

 indications of transverse bars anterior to the usual subterminal one, these varying in num- 

 ber and distinctness with the individual. Whole plumage sometimes sooty black, the 

 breast, however, covered by an appreciably paler patch, usually of a somewhat rufous hue. 

 Tail sometimes with regular and continuous narrow bands to the very base. 



Young. Very much darker than that of var. horealis, the pattern being similar, but the 

 dark markings much expanded and more numerous ; tibiae with heavy transverse spots of 

 dusky. 



Hab. Western region of North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific ; 

 south into Mexico ; West Indies (Jamaica and Cuba, Mus. S. I.). 



Localities quoted: (?) Xalapa (Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 368) ; Oaxaca (Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 

 389); (?) Cuba (Cab. Journ. II. Ixxxii ; Gundl. Rep. 1865, 223 ; resident. " B. borealts")] 

 S. E. Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 324). 



LIST OF specimens EXAMINED. 



National Museum, 44 ; Philadelphia Academy, 18 ; Boston Society, 6 ; Coll. G. N. Law- 

 rence, 2 ; R. Ridgway, 5. Total, 75. 



in general appearance, but differing in the following particulars : Tail deep umber, with about 

 twelve or thirteen narrow bands of black, and very narrowly tipped with whitish ; lateral lower 

 parts thickly spotted with blackish, and tibiae spotted transversely with the same ; lower tail- 

 coverts with distant bars of blackish. Upper tail-coverts blackish-brown barred with white, this 

 not touching the shaft. 



Hab. Central America and Southwestern Mexico ; Costa Rica, Veragua, and Tres Marias 

 Islands (Mus. S. I.). 



Localities : (?) Guatemala (ScL. Ibis, I, 217, B. horcalis) ; Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 133, "var, 

 tnontanus"). 



List of Specimens Examined. — National Museum, 4. 



Measurements much the same as in the other varieties. 



