Ridgway on a Tropical American Hawk. 207 



cottonwood tree about forty feet in height. The hole was twenty-five 

 feet from the ground, and near the top of the same tree were three simi- 

 lar holes, very probably occupied by the same pair in previous years. 

 The entrance was rather large for the size of the bird. At the bottom of 

 the cavity, about ten inches deep, lay five eggs upon wood dust and a few 

 chips. These eggs were far advanced and measure .91X.72; .90X.73; 

 •93X.71; -93X-73; -9IX-73- The male, which was shot, was evidently 

 assisting the female in incubating. 

 Fort Custer, Montana. 



ON A TROPICAL AMERICAN HAWK TO BE ADDED 

 TO THE NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



BY ROBERT RIDGWAY. 



In ,l Forest and Stream" for April 14. 18S1 (p. 206), I 

 briefly announced the capture, at Oyster Bay, Florida, by Mr. 

 W. S. Crawford,* of a specimen of a small black Hawk, well- 

 known as an inhabitant of Tropical America, but not previously 

 recorded from any portion of the United States ; the name 

 Buteo fuliginosus. Sclater, being provisionally adopted for 

 the species. Since the announcement in question was published, 

 Mr. George A. Boardman, of Calais, Maine, has sent me for ex- 

 amination a finely mounted specimen of a Hawk obtained by him 

 on the first of February last at Palatka, East Florida, which proves 

 to be the Buteo brackyurus of Vieillot, a bird having the same 

 range as B. fuliginosus, and by many ornithologists regarded 

 as the light-colored phase of the same species. The question of 

 the relationship of the two forms was referred to in the " Forest 

 and Stream " article as follows : — 



" This question of what name the species [i.e. the black spec- 

 imen obtained at Oyster Bay] should bear is one involving con- 

 siderable investigation, pending which I will call it, provisionally, 

 Buteo fuliginosus, Sclater. It is a small species, about the 

 size of B. pennsylvanicus, but with longer wings, and of a 



* This specimen was presented to the National Museum by Mr. W- II. Collins 

 of Detroit. 



