228 Zoological Society : — 



webs of the wing-feathers. The wings are, however, much more 

 elongated tlian in the Unibitinyce, the third primary (which is 

 longest) extending 4 inches beyond the secondaries. The fourth 

 and fifth primaries are only slightly shorter than the third, the first 

 being nearly of the same length as the longest secondary. The 

 general form seems to be that of the Buteones appertaining to the 

 subgenus called Tachytrio7-chis, and the nearest ally of the present 

 species among the specimens of the British Museum appears, as has 

 been pointed out to me by Mr. G. R. Gray, to be his Buteo albono- 

 tatiis (Cat. Accipitres [1848], p. 36). This latter bird does not 

 appear to me to differ from Cabanis's Buteo abbreviatus, described 

 in Schomburgk's ' Reisen in Brittisch Guiana,' vol. iii. p. 739, and I 

 should be inclined to consider the two names as synonymous. 



3. Syrnium albitarse, sp. nov. 



Syrnium albotarse, G. R. Gray in Mus. Brit. 



Supra brunnescenti-nigrum, plumis omnibus pallido rufo semel 

 aut pluries late transfasciatis ; pileo unicolore nigricante, 

 plumis suhtus pallide rufis : alis caudaque nigricantibus ; remi- 

 gum pogoniis exterioribus quinque sive sex maculis quadratis 

 pallide rufis margincttis; recfricibus vittis quinque et altera ter- 

 minali latiore supra pallide rufis, subtiis magis albidis apparen- 

 tibus transfasciatis : facie, loris, mento et plumis supra-ocula- 

 ribus albis : subtus pure album, rufescente mixtum, plumarum 

 terminationibus latis interdum etiam scapis saturate brunneis ; 

 tibiis et tarsorum parte superiore rufis, horum parte inferiore 

 albis : rostri plumb ei apice fiava, pedibus fuscis. 

 Long, tota 15'0, alse 11 "0, caudse 6*5, tarsi I "9. 

 The name of this Owl was inserted in the list of specimens of Ac- 

 cipitres in the collection of the British Museum published in 1848 ; 

 but no description of it has yet appeared. The type in the British 

 Museum is immature, and nearly agrees with one in my own collec- 

 tion. Mr. Gurney's specimen, from which my description is taken, 

 appears to be nearly adult. All these three examples were received 

 in collections from Bogota, and they are the only individuals of this 

 species that I have yet met with. The face of this bird is white ; 

 the head above brownish-black outside, with the bases of the fea- 

 thers bright rufous. The whole upper surface is brownish-black 

 varied with this rufous colouring, every feather being crossed with a 

 broad subterminal band of rufous, sometimes with a second, and 

 these bands being occasionally incomplete in the middle across the 

 shaft. The primaries and secundaries are marked externally with 

 rather square-shaped rufous spots, four or five in number. The tail 

 has five cross-bands besides the terminal one formed in the same 

 way, which bands appear whitish on the lower surface. Below, 

 the colouring is creamy-white tinged with pale rufous, the breast- 

 feathers, particularly on the sides, having broad terminations of 

 black-brown, the belly-feathers narrower terminations and also 

 lateral margins of the same colour. The tarsi are creamy-white with 



