420 General Notes. [jJly 



West Chester is about forty miles southwest of George School. The two 

 occurrences would seem to indicate that a flock of these birds had been 

 blown inland from the ocean and that these and perhaps others had become 

 exhausted. — Witmer Stone, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



The Status of the Genus Archibuteo, Brehm. — Since proposing 

 (The Auk, XXXVII, No. 2, April, 1919, p. 282) to change the name of the 

 genus Archibuteo Brehm to Triorchis Kaup, the writer has had occasion to 

 investigate the generic status of this group. The two Rough-legged Hawks, 

 Falco lagopus Briinnich and Falco ferrugineus Liohtenstein, have for a 

 long time been generically segregated from the species of Buteo because 

 they have the tarsi completely feathered in front and on the sides. Dr. 

 Hartert has recently (Hand-List Brit. Birds, 1912, p. 115; Vogel palaarkt. 

 Fauna, Heft IX [Band II, Heft 3], October, 1914, pp. 1114, 1128-1131), 

 advocated the elimination of Archibuteo as a genus because of the inter- 

 mediate character of some species of Buteo. The results of our own study 

 may be worthy of brief notice in print, as they seem, much to our surprise, 

 completely to justify Dr. Hartert's position. The common Rough-legged 

 Hawk of Europe, Archibuteo lagopus lagopus (Briinnich), and its North 

 American subspecies, Archibuteo lagopus sanctijohannis (Gmelin) exhibit 

 the extreme extent of feathering on the tarsus, which in these birds extends 

 over the base of the toes. This condition, compared with that seen in 

 Falco buteo Linna?us, the type of the genus Buteo Lacepede, would seem 

 to indicate that Archibuteo is an excellent genus. Examination of other 

 species of both groups shows, however, that in this character there is a 

 complete chain of intermediates connecting Archibuteo lagopus with Buteo 

 buteo, through Buteo augur, Buteo desertorum, Buteo leucocephalus, and 

 Buteo ferox. In fact, Archibuteo ferrugineus is also somewhat intermediate 

 in this respect, since the feathering on its tarsus does not cover the base 

 of the toes, nor in some specimens even the lower end of the tarsus. Some 

 examples of Buteo ferox have the tarsus feathered in front, even to the base 

 of the toes; and Buteo leucocephalus has it covered for at least the upper 

 two-thirds. Failing other characters to separate Archibuteo lagopus from 

 Buteo it must be included in that group. Contrasted with Archibuteo 

 lagopus lagopus and Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis, the American 

 species Archibuteo ferrugineus looks very different, with its broad bill and 

 rather long tarsus; and Mr. C. J. Maynard (Birds Eastern North Amer., 

 pt. 40, 1896, p. 691) has generically separated it under the name Brewsteria, 

 because of these differences, its much heavier sterno-trachialis muscle, 

 and the lack of glandular ridges on the proventriculus. The broad bill 

 and rather long tarsi are shared almost completely by Buteo leucocephalus 

 and Buteo ferox; the glandular ridges on the proventriculus in Archibuteo 

 lagopus are, Mr. A. Wetmore thinks, merely adventitious wrinkles; while 

 the heavier sterno-trachialis muscle as compared with Archibuteo lagopus 

 is doubtless merely a difference due to the larger size of Archibuteo ferrugi- 



