SAINT LUCAS RED-TAIL. 217 



74. Buteo borealis lucasanus RIDGWAY. 



SAINT LUCAS RED-TAIL. 



Buteo borealis var. lucasanus RIDGWAY, in Coues's Key to North American Birds, 



1872, 216 (under B. borealis). 

 (B . 3516, R 436c, C 518, U 337c.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. 



The St. Lucas Red-tail, a scarcely tenable race, very similar to B. borealis 

 calurus excepting that the black bars on the tail of the adult are generally 

 wanting, is confined to the Cape St. Lucas region of Lower California. Its 

 habits, nests, and eggs, are like those of the Western Red-tail which occupies 

 the same localities. 



Since this was written, Mr. William Brewster has made a careful study 

 of this supposed subspecies, and in a letter to me, dated March 15, 1891, 

 he makes the following remarks: "In my opinion there is no such bird 

 as Buteo borealis lucasanus. The type and the mounted specimen in the U. S. 

 National Museum collection are simply lightly banded specimens of the 

 Western Red-tail. Both have the band, but it is indistinct. I can match the 

 mounted bird by specimens from both Lower California and Arizona. I 

 brought together nearly one hundred skins, including over thirty from Lower 

 California; the latter as a series show no peculiarities so far as I can see. 

 The type of Buteo borealis lucasanus is certainly peculiar in respect to the 

 tail, but in no other way." I fully agree with Mr. Brewster's conclusions. 



75. Buteo borealis harlani (AUDUBON). 



HARLAN'S HAWK. 



Falco harlani AUDUBON, Birds of America, I, 1830, 441, PI. 86. 

 Buteo borealis harlani RIDGWAY, Auk, vn, 1890, 205. 



(B 22, C 350, R 438, C 515, U 337rZ.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE: Gulf States and Lower Mississippi Valley; north (casually) 

 to Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Pennsylvania ; east to Georgia and Florida. 



Harlan's Hawk, which till recently figured as a distinct species, is now 

 considered only a variety of Buteo borealis. It is the darkest of the different 

 geographical races of this species, and ranges from northern Florida, Georgia, 

 the Gulf States, and the Lower Mississippi Valley, north to Kansas, Iowa, 

 Illinois, and Pennsylvania. 



All we know about the breeding habits of this subspecies is Audubon's 

 statement, who first described this Hawk from a pair obtained by him near 

 St. FVancisville, Louisiana, which had bred in that neighborhood for two 

 seasons; were shy and difficult of approach, and for a long while eluded his 

 pursuit. 1 



'History of North American Birds, 1874, Vol. HI, p. 294. 



