202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 
Sierra Nevada, are of the var. insignatus, while the pale race seems chiefly to 
prevail in the open and arid regions eastward. I found the dark race breed- 
ing down to San Diego, and they seem more common on this slope than the 
B. borealis, even to Alaska. They migrate in flocks, of which one was men- 
tioned in the Orn. of Cal., going north in San Diego Co., April 18th, 1862, 
and on Apr. 16th, 1873, I saw a similar flock, entirely of insignatus, going north 
over Ventura Co. With the first were some of Archibuteo and other species. 
They returned south about Oct. 1, in Ventura Co., more or less in flocks, while 
no southward movement of B. borealis occurred until a month later. My state- 
ment that the average size of this species is equal to that of borealis was 
founded on a comparison of females of this with males of the latter. The 
wings are longer in proportion, which in dried skins is liable to mislead. The 
difference between wing and total length I found in six specimens to average 
only 3.72 inches, while in seven of var. calurus it averaged six inches. Al- 
though Dr. Brewer thinks that the nest and eggs described by Heermann as 
ot Archibuteo belonged to this bird, the description of both seems to me more 
suited to the latter, which certainly breeds here. 
BUTEo (LINEATUS Var.) ELEGANS—Elegant Buzzard—p. 477. The description 
of the young which I copied from Cassin’s, is wrong in giving 12 instead of 6 
bars on the tail, no doubt inadvertently, as he figures it correctly in Birds of 
N. A. (P. R. R. Rep. X, pl. II and IIT). Isawa dead bird of this species 
in Marin Co., north of 8. F. Bay in 1873, and it is doubtless the ‘‘F’. hyemalis ”’ 
of Townsend’s Oregon list, as the eastern race goes north to Nova Scotia. In 
1872-3, I found them constant residents of Ventura Co., and not more common 
in winter. 
Butro oxyptErus—Sharp-winged Buzzard—p. 480. A specimen in Wood- 
ward’s Museum, shot at San Diego in 1871, agrees perfectly with Cassin’s 
plate, and I do not agree with Ridgway in considering it merely a variety of 
B. Swainsoni. Besides its smaller size, it appears to have more transverse 
scales on tarsus, and its wing is different, both in proportions of quills and 
length. The dark var. fuliyinosus is also said to differ from insignatus in sooty 
tint, no white on forehead, under-wing coyerts banded white, tail cinereous 
umber, with seven (not ten) bars. Other differences are noted in the Cen- 
tral and South American specimens, described by Ridgway. Of its relation 
to B. Pennsylvanicus, suggested by J. A. Allen, I cannot decide. 
Eanus LEucuRUuS—Black-shouldered Hawk—p. 488. Mr. Ridgway’s be- 
lief that the Australian birds are specifically identical, will make this the 
E. awxillaris Latham (1801), var. leucurus, but any inter-migration of specimens 
between the two continents since the pliocene epoch, is more difficult to sup- 
pose than in the case of the stronger-winged Barn Owl. Our bird does not 
seem to go north of lat. 39°, and none are recorded from western Asia. I 
have seen but one or two in Ventura Co., and none south of lat. 35°, so that 
the California birds seem to be constant residents in the middle region of the 
State, where only their favorite marshes are extensive. 
Ortyx Douauiassii—Vigors, 1829. This is, apparently, merely a newly 
fledged young California Quail. The locality given, ‘‘ Monterey, Cal.,’’ goes 
to confirm this view, and I have found the first plumage agree closely. 
