60 SWAINSON'S BUZZARD— CANADA BUZZARD. 



Entire other plumage above and below dark brown, every feather having a darker, or nearly 

 black, central line ; quills above brown, with a slight purple lustre ; beneath pale cinereous, with 

 their shafts white, and with irregular transverse bands of white ; tail above dark brown, with an 

 ashy or hoary tinge, and having about ten transverse bands of a darker shade of the same color ; 

 beneath nearly white, with conspicuous transverse bands of brown, the widest of which is subter- 

 minal ; tip paler, or nearly white ; bill dark ; cere, tarsi, and toes yellow. 



Female. Nearly Adult. Like the preceding, but with the upper plumage darker, and the 

 entire under parts dark rufoas chestnut ; darker on the breast, quite uniform on the flanks and 

 abdomen, and every feather hiving the shift dirker brown, nearly black ; thro.it, forehead, under 

 wing coverts and under tail coverts white ; tail as in the preceding. — Cassin. 



[b) 

 BUTEO SWAINSONI. 



Si'. Char. Youiig-of-the-year (Both sexes). Entire upper parts dark brown, everywhere 

 varied with lawny edgings of the individual feathers. The younger the bird the more marked is 

 the variegation ; it corresponds in tints closely with the color of the under parts, being palest in 

 very young examples. Under parts, including lining of wings, nearly uniform fawn-color (pale, 

 dull yellowish-brown), thickly and sharply marked with blackish-brown. These large dark spots, 

 for the most part circular or guttiform, crowd across the fore-breast, scatter on the middle belly, 

 enlarge to cross-bars on the flanks, become broid arrow-heads on the lower belly and tibi;^, and 

 are wanting on the throat, which is only marked with a sharp, narrow, blackish pencilling along 

 the median line. Quills brownish-black, the outer webs with an ashy shade, the inner webs toward 

 the base grayish, paler, and marbled with white, and also showing obscure dark cross-bars ; their 

 shafts black on top, nearly white underneath. Tail feathers like the quills, but more decidedly 

 shaded with ashy or slate-gray, and tipped with whitish ; their numerous dark cross-bars show 

 more plainly than those of the quills, but are not so evident as they are in the old birds. 



.-Icliills (either sex). Upper parts dark brown, very variable in shade, according to season or 

 wear of feathers, varied \iith paler brown, or even reddish-brown edgings of the feathers, but 

 without the clear fawn-color of the young ; the feathers of the crown showing whitish when dis- 

 turbed, and usually sharp, dark shaft-lines ; the upper tail coverts chestnut and white, with blackish 

 bars. Quills and tail feathers as befoie, but the inner webs of the former showing more decided 

 dark cross-bars upon a lighter marbled-whitish ground, and the latter having broader and sharper 

 dark wavy bars. These la'ge quills, and particularly those of the tail, vary much in shade accord- 

 ing to wear, the new feathers being strongly slate-colored, the old ones plain dark brown. The 

 tail, however, never shows any trace of the rich chestnut that obtains in the adult B. borealis. 



Alale. Under parts showing a broad pectoral area of the bright chestnut, usually with a 

 glaucous cast, and displaying sharp, black shaft-lines ; this area contrasting sharply with the pure 

 white throat. Other under parts white, more or less tinged and varied, in different specimens, 

 with light chestnut. In some males this chestnut is diminished to traces, chiefly in flank-bars 

 and arrow-heads, and the white throat is immaculate ; in others the throat shows blackish pencil- 

 ling, and the rest of the under pans are so much marked with the chestnut, chiefly in cross-bars, 

 that this color predominates over the white, and appears in direct continuation of the pectoral area 

 itself. Some feathers of this area are commonly dark brown. 



Female. Much darker underneath than the male ; throat pure wltite, but other under parts 

 probably never whitening decidedly. Pectoral area form rich, dark chestnut or mahogany- color, 

 mixed with still darker leathers, to brownish-black ; and other under parts heavily marked with 

 chestnut, chiefly in cross-bars alternating with whitish, but on the flanks, and sometimes across the 

 belly, these markings quite blackish. The general tone of the under parts may be quite as dark 

 as the pectoral area of the male, but it lacks uniformity, and the increased depth of color of the- 

 pectoral area in this sex suffices to preserve the strong contrast already mentioned (About forty 

 specimens examined.) — Couts. 



