AVES FALCONID/B. 641 



females (length 20.90; wing 14.60), and there can be little doubt that it is 

 a male. The other bird also labelled male is a little larger, but still far 

 under the standard of the female (21.00 length; wing 15.20), was taken 

 at Punta Arenas, Chili, on December 24, 1897, by Mr. Hatcher (P. U. 

 O. C. 7869). 



This latter bird has faint traces of rusty red on a very few of the feathers 

 of the upper back and is, except for a few faint wavering bars across 

 the abdomen, like the adult male described above. No. 7868 is even 

 more typical of the very adult male, in the silvery slate of the upper parts 

 and the almost immaculate lower surface, but on' the interscapular region 

 there is a small but very appreciable area of bright rusty red. 



These two males are of interest as being intermediate in plumage be- 

 tween two males and the female adult stage, these latter males have more 

 rusty on the back, while they approach the immature and young of the 

 year in the plumage of the lower parts. At the risk of some confusion, 

 these birds may be considered here. No. 7867 was taken at Coy Inlet, 

 Patagonia, 15 October, 1896, J. B. Hatcher; and No. 7870 on the Pacific 

 Slope of the Cordillera, Patagonia, 12 March, 1897, J. B. Hatcher. 



The bird taken near Coy Inlet, No. 7867, is in detail as follows : 



Head : The crown deep seal-brown, each feather margined more or less 

 definitely with rusty and cottony white at the base ; lores and forehead, as 

 well as the sides of the face, isabellinc, the feathers with black shafts, 

 giving a fine streaked look ; a defined moustachial streak reaching from 

 the lower mandible to below and well back of the ear-coverts, deep seal- 

 brown. 



Neck : Above and on the sides rusty red, the feathers of the nape with 

 arrow-shaped markings of deep seal-brown ; chin, throat and lower neck 

 white, somewhat obscured with very pale buff. 



Back : Interscapular region rusty red ; lower back and rump rusty red, 

 barred broadly with deep seal-brown ; upper tail-coverts white, with waver- 

 ing cross bars of deep seal-brown or rusty. 



Tail : White ; the outer webs inclining to slaty, obscurely barred and 

 vermiculated with slaty brown ; the inner webs more distinctly white and 

 crossed by many wavering bars of dusky slate ; an obscure subterminal 

 band of dusky slate and broad tips of white ; the inner webs of the two 

 central feathers arc vermiculated with dusky slate, except terminally, where 

 the barring appears. Seen from below, the closed tail is immaculate 

 white, with a subterminal narrow obscure bar of dusky slate. 



