STUDIES OF THE AMERICAN FALCONIDH. 



By Eobekt Eidgway. 



Genus NISTJS, Cuviee. 

 introduction. 



The latest authority on the birds of the family to which the genus 

 Kisiis belongs (the " Catalogue of the Aecipitres, or Diurnal Birds of 

 Prey, in the Collection of the British Museum ", by Mr. K. Bowdler 

 Sharpe*) allows eleven American species which we consider as belong- 

 ing to this genus as properly restricted, they being included in that work 

 in the genus ^'•Accipiter.''^ The species recognized, by Mr. Sharpe are 

 the following : — 



(1.) "2. Accipiter fuscus." (p. 135.) 



(2.) " 3. Accipiter cooperi." (p. 137.) 



(3.) " 4. Accipiter tinus." (p.' 139.) 



(4-.) " 8. Accipiter collaris." (p. 144.) 



(5.) "13. Accipiter erythrocnemis." (p. 147.) 



(6.) " 14. Accipiter chiouogaster." (p. 148.) 



(7.) " 16. Accipiter ventralis." (p. 149.) 



(8.) " 19. Accipiter guttatus." (p. 152.) 



(9.) "20. Accipiter pileatus.'' (p. 153.) 



(10.) "21. Accipiter bicolor." (p. 154.) » 



(11.) " 22. Accipiter chilensis." (p. 155.) 



Besides the above, two species which are probably closely allied to 

 this group, are given, but it seems to us erroneously, under the genus 

 Astur, these being the Falco poUogaster of Te3Diinck: and the Astur pec- 

 ioralis of Bonapaete. These two remarkable and rare species we have 

 had no opportunity to examine, in order to verify the i^ropriety of in- 

 cluding them in the genus Astur\ but the probability is very strong that 

 they will jirove subgenerically, if not generically, distinct from the typi- 

 cal members of that genus. 



To aid us in the study of this difficult group, we have had access 

 to the collections of the principal museums of the United States; the 

 Xational museum, at Washington, the collection of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Xatural Sciences, the American JMuseum at Central Park in 

 Xew York City, the museum of the Boston Society of Xatural History, 

 and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., furnish- 

 ing the bulk of the material. Two species not known to exist in any 

 American museum were furnished for examination by Mr. Osbert Salvia, 

 of England, who kindly loaned his large and elegant series of these birds 

 for the purpose : the unique type of another was obtained from the mu- 

 seum of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, X. Y., through the courtesy of 

 Professor James Orton, its collector; and Mr. George N. Lawrence, of 



* London, 1874, 8 vo., pp. 47y, pl>. xiv. 



