l6o General Notes. [April 



men soiled white and the remainder of the nnderparts behind or below the 

 jugulum, excepting a small area in the middle of the breast, variegated 

 everywhere with black and white, each feather having a pair of rounded 

 white spots tipping its opposite webs, these spots being usually embraced 

 between the horns of V-shaped, black markings. In this series the shade 

 of the cinnamon of the nnderparts is in proportion to the amount of white, 

 the cinnamon being palest in the birds having the most white, and deep- 

 est in those which have the least. This fact has suggested to me the pos- 

 sibility that the paler, spotted birds may be the young, and those with 

 nearly or perfectly black masks and immaculate nnderparts the adults ; but 

 Mr. Allen's theory that such variations indicate near relationship to, if not 

 actual intergradation with, the white-throated C. g.ray$oni is perhaps 

 more probable. I notice, however, that all the specimens examined by 

 Mr. Allen (except my type, taken early in August, and an unusually 

 deep-colored and black-headed bird) were killed in September and Febru- 

 ary, months when young or immature birds would naturally outnumber 

 the fully mature ones. Mr. Ridgwav's -suspicion" that C. grays on i and 

 C. ridgxvayi "may be individual color phases of the same species" seems 

 to me the least likely hypothesis of the three, unless we may assume 

 that the two 'phases' have different habitats; or. at least, that a portion 

 of the region occupied by each phase is not invaded by the other. 



Mr. Cahoon found the Masked Bob-white about Bacuachi and at a 

 ranch some eighteen miles north of Cumpas. Thev were abundant 

 (several large covies were seen and eight specimens shot in one day), 

 haunting patches of weeds in gardens and barren "sand wastes, where 

 they fed on the seeds of a plant called red-root." Their habits are like 

 those of C. virginianus and their call-notes precisely similar. When 

 scattered they lie very closely. — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



Capture of a Third Specimen of the Short-tailed Hawk ( Buteo bra- 

 chyurus) in Florida. — Mr. E. II. Forbush, of Worcester, has latelv sent 

 me a Buteo brachyurus which was shot by Mr. Charles E. Bailev at the 

 head of Ten-Mile Creek (a tributary of the St. Lucie River), Brevard 

 County, Florida, March n, iSS6. Jt is an adult female of the white-bellied 

 form. Two specimens (one in the black plumage) have been previously 

 recorded* from Florida by Mr. Ridgwaj'. The occurrence of this third 

 bird strengthens the suspicion that the species may have become perma- 

 nently established in that State.— William Bkewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



A Third New England Specimen of Swainson's Hawk {Buteo s-vaiu- 

 soni). — Mr. E. S. Bowler has just sent me a Swainson's Hawk, taken at 

 Gouldsboro', Maine, Sept. 15, 1SS6. by Mr. E. Gordon. It is a young bird 

 of the melanistic type, but not wholly black. The species is known to have 

 occurred only twice before in New England, both times in Massachusetts 

 — Salem, winter of 1S71-72 {Allen, Bull. Essex Inst.. X, 1S7S, 22) ; Wav- 

 land..Sept. 12, 1S76 (Bretvster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, III, 1878, 39).— 

 William Brewster, Cambridge. Mass. 



* Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VI, 1881, pp. 210, 212. 



