292 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ground-color is a very light buff, the spottings and markings giving to it 

 tlie effect of a yellowish-white. It is. marked over the entire surface with 

 blotches, dashes, and lines of a light tint of a brown tending to Vandyke. 

 These are mixed witJi markings of a ligliter purplish-brown. The markings, 

 of both shades, are chiefly oblong in shape, and run with the length of the 

 egg. They bear no resemblance to any eggs of the B. horealis that I have 

 ever seen, and are unlike those of other Hawks so far as I am aware. It 

 was built on the top of a large evergreen-oak, at least seventy feet from the 

 ground, and was constructed entirely of large, coarse sticks, lined with a few 

 stray feathers. The male bird was shot as it flew from the nest, which was 

 so hidden by the thick branches that it would have escaped detection. 



The black form of this species was first described by Mr. Cassin as BiUeo 

 calurits, in 1855, from a specimen procured by Dr. Henry near Fort Web- 

 ster, New Mexico. In this plumage it was afterwards met with by Mr. 

 Emanuel Samuels, near Petaluma, in California, who found it breeding, and 

 was fortunate enough to secure the parent bird on its nest. 



The nest was built near the top of an evergreen-oak, at the height of 

 about sixty feet from the ground, and contained two eggs just on the point 

 of hatching. It was constructed of sticks, and was lined with moss. Both 

 birds were about the spot. The male bird, manifesting much more courage 

 than his mate in resistance to the intruders, was shot. The female was 

 wounded, but escaped. 



One of these eggs measures 2.25 inches in length by 1.79 in breadth. Its 

 capacity is considerably less than that of the specimens just described ; its 

 shape is a much more oblong-oval; one end is evidently more pointed than the 

 other. Its ground-color is a dirty cream-white, covered, chiefly at the larger 

 end, with blotches and smaller markings of a dark shade of a brown almost 

 exactly corresponding with that known as vandyke-brown, with smaller 

 markings and sjDottings of a lighter shade of the same. The latter are dis- 

 tributed at intervals over its entire surface. 



A nest, found by Mr. Xantus near Fort Tejon, is stated by him to have 

 been found in a swamp. It M^as built in a water-oak, was about fifteen feet 

 from the ground. The nest was very large and was built of coarse sticks. 

 It contained four eu'u's. 



^oo^ 



Buteo harlani (Audubon). 



HARLAN'S HAWK; "BLACK WARRIOR." 



Falco harlani, Aud. B. Am. 1S31, pi. xxxvi ; Ib. Orn. Biog. I, 441. — Brewer (Wii.s.), 

 Am. Orn. Synop. 18.52, 684. £ideo harlani, Bonap. List, 1838, 3. — Aud. Synop. 

 1839, 6. —Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. 18. -De Kay, Zool. N. Y. II, 11.— Strickl. 

 Orn. Syn. I, 30. — Cas.s. Birds N. Am. 1858, 24 (adult, but not the description of 

 young, which is that of J5. borealis, var. calurus). — CouEs, P. A. N. S. 186(5, 43. — 

 Gray, Hand List, I, 7 (under B. borealis). — Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Dec. 1870, 142. — 

 CoTJES, Key, 1872, 216. 



