RED-BACKED BUZZARD 47 
RED-BACKED BUZZARD 
Buteo erythronotus 
Above slatey blue; wing feathers slatey with narrow black bars ; 
upper tail-coverts and tail white, the latter crossed with narrow 
grey bars and broad black band; beneath white; bill dark horn- 
colour; feet yellow; length 25, wing 18.5 inches. Female similar, 
but back deep chestnut. 
Tuis is a fine bird—the king of South-American 
Buzzards. In the adult female the three colours of 
the plumage are strongly contrasted ; the back being 
rusty rufous, the rest of the upper parts grey, the 
whole under surface pure white. It is occasionally 
met with in the northern provinces of the Argentine 
Republic, but is most common in Patagonia; and 
it has been said that in that region it takes the place 
of the nearly allied Buteo albicaudatus of Brazil. In 
habits, however, the two species are as different as 
it is possible for two Raptores to be; for while the 
northern bird has a cowardly spirit, is, to some 
extent, gregarious, and feeds largely on insects, the 
Patagonian species has the preying habits of the 
Eagle and lives exclusively, I believe, or nearly so, 
on cavies and other small mammals. When Captain 
King first discovered it in 1827, he described it as 
“a small beautiful Eagle.’’ In Patagonia it is very 
abundant, and usually seen perched on the summit 
of a bush, its broad snowy-white bosom conspicuous 
to the eye at a great distance—one of the most 
familiar features in the monotonous landscape of 
