FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 



295 



and the smaller species of wild duck. He saw none of the young, but was 

 told that they appeared to be of a leaden-gray color at a distance, and at tlie 

 approach of winter became as dark as their parents. 



Mr. Dresser states that he noticed tliis bird on several occasions near 

 San Antonio but was not fortunate enough to shoot one. He jreceived one 

 specimen that liad been shot by a lad on the Medina Eiver. He was in- 

 formed by a man living near there, who was a good sportsman and a careful 

 observer, that he had several times found their nests, and Dr. Heermann is 

 said to have obtained the eggs there several years before. Dr. Coues did not 

 meet with it in Arizona, where it probably, however, will yet be found. 

 Specimens have been received from Mexico, as is stated by Cassin, and a 

 Buzzard, which Mr. Salvin referred to this species, was seen by him near 

 Dueiias, where it was by no means common. 



A specimen of this species has recently been taken in Kansas, near Law- 

 rence, as recorded by Professor Snow, and fully identified at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 



Buteo cooperi, Cassin. 



COOPER'S RED-TAILED HAWK. 



Bateo cooperi, Cass. P. A. N. S. Philad. VIII, 1856, 253. — Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 31, pi. 

 xvi.— Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 1860, 148. — Gray, Hand List, I, 8. — 

 RiDGWAY, P. A. N. S. Dec. 1870, 142. —Coues, Key, 1872, 43. 



Sp. Char. Adult {%,b2b, Santa Clara, California, Oct. 18.56; Dr. J. G. Cooper). Head, 

 neck, and whole lower parts white ; feathers of the head 

 and neck with medial longitudinal streaks of black, the 

 white prevailing on the occiput and superciliary region, 

 — the black predominating over the cheeks, forming a 

 "mustache"; throat with fine lanceolate blackish streaks; 

 sides of the breast with broader, more cuneate mark- 

 ings of the same ; flanks with narrow, lanceolate stripes, 

 these extending sparsely across the abdomen ; tibiag. and 

 lower tail-coverts immaculate, the inner face of the for- 

 mer, however, with faint specks. Upper plumage in 

 general dark plumbeous-brown, inclining to black on the 

 back; plumbeous clearest on primaries, which are uni- 

 formly of this color, the inner ones inclining to fine cine- 

 reous. Scapulars and wing-coverts spattered with white 

 beneath the surface. Rump black ; upper tail-coverts 

 white tinged with rufous, and with irregular, distant trans- 

 verse bars of blackish. Tail with light rufous prevailing, 

 but this broken up by longitudinal daubs and washes of 

 cinereous, and darker mottlings running longitudinally on 

 both webs ; basally, the ground-color approaches white ; 

 tips white, and a distinct, but very irregular, subtei-minal 

 band of black, into which the longitudinal mottlings melt ; 

 outer webs of lateral feathers entirely cinereous, and with- 

 out the black band. Under side of the wing white, with a large black space on the 



8.525. 



Buteo cooperi. 



