On some species of Birds from Cuba. 437 



ungiiibus nigris. Longitude corporis, 10; rostn\ f ; alee a carpo 

 ad remigem 2^am^ 7 . caiidce, 5 ; <ar5/, 1 -j-"^. 



In this bird the following distinguishing marks may be noticed 

 as separating it from the Falco Sparverius. The head * has not 

 the hay or rufous spot on the vertex ; while the breast, abdomen^ 

 and under parts are strongly and entirely rufous. The internal 

 webs of the quill feathers are grey instead of Avhite, and faintly, 

 not strongly, fasciated with fuscous : ihe fascia; also ditler in form, 

 being uniform throughout, while in F. Sparverius they appear 

 dentatcd, particularly towards the aj^ex : the undersides also ex- 

 hibit a similar difference, ihe fascice being indistinct, and the whole 

 surface neatly of a uniform grey. The under wing coverts differ 

 materially from those of F. Sparverius, being strongly marked with 

 black, which colour predominates over the white; in the other 

 species tlie white prevails with but a few black marks. The tail 

 in our bird has a narrow greyish /«sc/a at the apex; the F. Spar- 

 verius has a broad white one : all the twelve tail feathers in our 

 bird are uniform in colour and in markings, while in the other 

 species the two external feathers have a white external web, and 

 an internal web with a white margin at the apex extending nearly 

 an inch, and marked with two black spots. Our species appears 

 somewhat smaller than the generality of those birds which are 

 represented as belonging to the true F. Sparverius. 



One of the specimens in the collection has an ash-coloured back^ 

 but somewhat marked with rufous. It may be a female or a 

 young male ; — the latter more probably, —as the females of all the 

 conterminous species have the tail marked with numerous burs, 

 while in the specimen to which I allude that member is uniformly 

 rufous. 



Dr. Latham describes an American species in the new edition 

 of his Synopsis under the name of Abbottian Falcon, which seems 

 nearly allied to the present bird. The description however dif- 



* The specimens from \vhich I have drawn the forepioing description are 

 somewhat injured about the neck. That part evidently sliows some black 

 markings similar to those in F. Sparverius, but from the state of the skins I 

 cannot determine their number or position so as to compare this character iu 

 the two birds. 



