64 FALCONID.E. 



transverse black bars and long black ends; tail black, with a broad median 

 white band and white tip : beneath clear ferruginous red, with narrow trans- 

 verse black bars ; bill black, yellow at the base ; feet yellowish brown : whole 

 length 20'0 inches, wing 16-5, tail 8-3. Female similar, but larger. 



Hab. South America. 



This Buzzard inhabits the northern portion of the Argentine Republic, 

 and is also found in the woods and marshes along the Plata basin, ranging 

 south to Buenos Ayres. The wings are larger and the flight slower than 

 in the last species. The plumage is nearly of a uniform dark brown. 



At Concepcion, in Entrerios, Mr. Barrows tells us it is not unfre- 

 quently seen in cold weather. In July 1880, during an almost unpre- 

 cedented rise of the river, it was quite abundant. The stomach of a 

 gorged female examined contained only young grasshoppers. 



300. GERANOAETUS MELANOLEUCUS (VieilU 

 (CHILIAN EAGLE.) 



Haliaetus melanoleucus, Bvrm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 435 (Parana, Tucuman, 

 Pampas). Geranoaetus melanoleucus, Scl. et Salv. NomencL p. 119; 

 Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 536 (Rio Negro) ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 38, et 

 1878, p. 397 (Patagonia); Gibson, Ibis, 1879, p. 409 (Buenos Ayres); 

 Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 110 (Entrerios and Ventana). Buteo melanoleucus, 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 168. 



Description. Above black, wings grey, with narrow transverse black bars ; 

 tail black : beneath, throat grey ; breast black, with slight round whitish 

 spots ; abdomen white, faintly barred across with grey ; bill plumbeous ; feet 

 yellow, claws black : whole length 26-0 inches, wing 19-0, tail 10*5. Female 

 similar, but larger. 



Hab. Whole southern half of South America, and western portion 

 of northern half. 



The Grey or Chilian Eagle, like most diurnal birds of prey, under- 

 goes many changes of colour, the plumage at different periods having its 

 brown, black, and grey stages : in the old birds it is a uniform clear 

 grey, and the under surface white. Throughout the Argentine country 

 this is the commonest Eagle, and I found it very abundant in Patagonia. 

 D'Orbigny describes it with his usual prolixity pardonably so in this 

 case, however, the bird being one of the very few species with which he 

 appears to have become familiar from personal observation. He says 

 that it is a wary bird ; pairs for life, the male and female never being 

 found far apart ; and that it soars in circles with a flight resembling 

 that of a Vulture, and that the form of its broad blunt wings increases 



