58 SWAINSON'S BUZZARD— CANADA BUZZARD. 



more than once examined it in the presence of Mr. \Vm. Hunter, 

 late ta.xidermist to the same Society. Where is this valuable 

 specimen at present ? Mr. Cassin clearly states that it was sent 

 to Philadelphia for examination and description, but does not say 

 what afterwards became of it, nor can I find any record either 

 of its loan or of its return in the printed proceedings of the Nat. 

 Hist. Society. This is a matter that should be looked into, and 

 that without delay by this Society, as if one rare specimen has 

 thus been permitted to be lost, there is no saying how many 

 others may have from time to time in like manner been removed. 

 I allude to this more particularly here, as there is little doubt but 

 that these pages will tall into the hands ot nearly all of our Ameri- 

 can ornithologists, some ot whom may yet be able to throw some 

 light upon the fate of — perhaps return—this stray specimen. 



Swainson's Buzzard has been already figured and described 

 under several names. Richardson in his Fauna Boreali Ameri- 

 cana crives it as the Biitco vulgaris or Common Buzzard ; Cassin 

 as already mentioned describes its melanotic condition as a new 

 species under the name of B. insignatiis. Brown Hawk or Canada 

 Buzzard ; while Hoy's B. Bairdii is now well known to be the 

 young bird. It is undoubtedly a rare bird in Canada in any of its 

 forms, and little is known of its distribution or nidification in our 

 Provinces. Mr. Mcllwraith of Hamilton says : " A specimen of 

 this rare bird was shot in i860, while in the act of pouncing upon 

 a tame pigeon in the streets of Oshawa. This is the only instance 

 I have heard of its occurrence in Canada." Our Hawks, however, 

 have been but little investigated, and it is not improbable that not 

 only this but some other species, now considered as accidental or 

 rare, will yet be found to frequent regularly certain sections of the 

 country. For my own part I have never had much faith in the 

 validity of the B. Siuainsoni as a distinct species, and have always 

 considered Cassin's B. msignahis as a purely fortuitous condition 

 of the B. borealis or Red-tailed Buzzard, having seen very similar 

 conditions of plumage in a number of specimens of the B lincatiis 

 or Red-shouldered Buzzard. But since studying Dr. Coues' article 

 on Swainson's Buzzard, and observing that he had the opportunity 



