152 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Eange outside the British Islands. A North American species, 

 found in the eastern portion of that continent, and westwards 

 to the border of the Great Plains, according to Mr. Ridgway 

 (Man. N. Amer. B. p. 232) occurring south in Eastern Mexico, 

 and perhaps extending to Panama. 



IV. THE RED-SHOULDERED BUZZARD. BUTEO LINEATUS. 



Falco UneatuS) Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 274 (1788); Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 191 (1874); Newton, ed. Yarr. 

 Brit. B. i. p. 113 (1871); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 94 

 (1883). 



Adult Male. Easily distinguished by the colour of the lesser 

 wing-coverts, which are conspicuously margined with rufous, so 

 as to form a shoulder-patch ; the quills distinctly spotted with 

 white on their outer webs ; the tail with from four to six alter- 

 nate bars of black and white ; cere yellow ; bill bluish-black ; 

 feet yellow ; claws black ; iris bright amber. Total length, 2 1 

 inches; oilmen, i'4; wing, 13*2; tail, 8-5 ; tarsus, 3-1. 



Eange in Great Britain. A specimen of this Buzzard is said 

 to have been obtained in Inverness-shire in 1863, but, as the 

 Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union remark, the 

 record is probably the mistake of a dealer. 



Range outside the British Islands. A North American species, 

 occurring northward to Nova Scotia, and westward to the edge 

 of the Great Plains. 



THE EAGLES. SUB-FAMILY AQUILINE. 



The chief distinguishing character of the Eagles is the reti- 

 culation of the hinder aspect of the tarsus. This is very often 

 hidden by feathers, but traces of the network of the scales 

 can generally be found on parting the feathering of the back 

 of the tarsus. The species of Eagles are numerous, and they 

 are distributed nearly over the entire globe ; in fact, there is no 

 portion of the Old' World in which a Sea-Eagle of some kind 

 does not occur. There is great variety in size among the 

 members of the Sub-family, some being large and powerful, 

 while others are little bigger than Sparrow-Hawks, and yet be- 



