WHITE-TAILED BUZZARD 45 



on the summit of a tree, and sits there motionless 

 for hours at a time, and at intervals utters singularly 

 long, loud cries, which become more frequent and 

 piercing when the bird is disturbed, as by the ap- 

 proach of a person. Its flight is rapid and irregular, 

 the short blunt wings beating unceasingly, while 

 the bird pours out a succession of loud, vehement, 

 broken screams. 



Mr. Barrows observed it on the Lower Uruguay, 

 and writes : '" It feeds largely if not exclusively on 

 fish, nearly every specimen having their remains 

 (and nothing else) in their stomachs." It would be 

 very interesting to learn how it captures its prey. 



WHITE-TAILED BUZZARD 



Buteo albicaudatus 



Above greyish black, scapulars and upper wing coverts ferruginous ; 

 rump and tail white, the latter with a broad black band; throat 

 black, beneath white; bill black, feet yellow; length 31, wing 18 

 inches. Female similar but larger. 



THIS Buzzard does not breed on the pampas, where 

 I have observed it, but appears there in the spring 

 and autumn, irregularly, when migrating, and in 

 flocks which travel in a loitering, desultory manner. 

 The flocks usually number from thirty or forty to 

 a hundred birds, but sometimes many more. I have 

 seen flocks which must have numbered from one to 



