36 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



Buteo vulgaris: Sp. Ch. — Wing, 15.50-16.60; tail, 8.80-10.00 

 culmen, .85 -.95; tarsus, 3.00-3.50; middle toe, 1.40-1.55. Four 

 outer primaries with inner webs emarginated ; third, fourth, or fifth quill 

 longest (usually the third and fourth) ; first shorter than seventh, eighth, 

 or ninth (usually intermediate between seventh and eighth). Tail even or 

 very slightly rounded. Tail brownish, in some examples touched with 

 rufous, sometimes with a narrow whitish tip, crossed by an indefinite num- 

 ber (about 10-13) bands of dusky, more or less indistinct basally ; the 

 inner webs lighter than the outer, sometimes whitish, the bars more dis- 

 tinct. Inner webs of the primaries usually plain white anterior to their 

 emargination, in marked contrast with their dusky tips, the white some- 

 times immaculate, oftener with indications of bars, especially next the 

 shaft, and rarely broken by a sprinkling or clouding of grayish ; outer 

 webs grayish-brown, with indistinct darker bars, which become gradually 

 obsolete towards the ends of the quills. Plumage generally a mixture of 

 sooty-brown and white, in varying proportionate amount, in some speci- 

 mens with occasional touches of rufous. 



In this species there appear to be no well-marked growth stages, 

 nor does there seem to be much if any difference in plumage be- 

 tween the sexes ; on the other hand, the range of individual varia- 

 tion is very great, fully equalling that of either B. borealis or B. 

 swainsoni. It is believed that the specimens contained in the Na- 

 tional Museum illustrate the main variations, and as no two of these 

 examples are alike, we will describe each one in detail : — 



Adult Males. 



Light Phase (No. 56,105, Germany). — Above grayish brown, broken 

 by whitish edges of the feathers, these most distinct on the scapulars and 

 middle wing-coverts ; lesser wing-coverts much spotted with deep buff, 

 and scapulars irregularly marked with the same ; rump distinctly spotted 

 with deeper buff ; remiges plain brown, very indistinctly banded with 

 darker, the primaries with a decided hoary cast, the secondaries and inner 

 primaries narrowly tipped with whitish. Outer upper tail-coverts white, 

 with a few brownish spots. Tail grayish-brown, of the same shade as the 

 secondaries, the inner webs whitish with well-defined bars towards their 

 ends, the outer webs with just appreciably darker narrow bands. Head, 

 neck, and lower parts white ; crown and nape streaked with grayish- 

 brown, the streaks widest on the crown ; a rictal stripe of blended streaks, 

 and a narrower and less distinct longitudinal series of streaks on the mid- 

 dle of the throat ; jugulum with a wide collar of large cordate or broadly 

 ovate spots of brown, with black shafts, the patch interrupted in the mid- 

 dle portion ; abdomen with irregular bars and transverse spots of brown, 

 and flanks with larger and more irregular spots of the same ; other por- 



