105 



Young male (41,129, Cuba, Dr. Gundlacli): — Above dark vandyke- 

 brown, the feathers bordered inconspicuously with dark rusty; tail dull 

 slate, narrowly tipped with ashy-white, aud crossed with four broad 

 bands of dusky, almost equal to the slate in width ; beneath, white, much 

 tinged on breast and tibite with reddish-ochraceous; thickly striped 

 with umber-brown, except on crissum, the streaks on throat narrow and 

 cuneate, those on breast broad, and on sides changing into broad 

 transverse spots or bars; tibite thickly spotted transversely with more 

 reddish, nearly rufous, brown; larger lower tail-coverts with narrow 

 shaft-streaks of black. Occiput showing much concealed white, the 

 ends of the feathers deep black. Wing, 8.00; tail, 7.50; culmen, 0.G8; 

 tarsus, 2.50; middle toe, 1.70. 



Young female (41,128, Cuba, Dr. Gundlach) : — Similar, but more thickly 

 striped beneath, the dark markings about equaling the white in extent; 

 whole sides with large transverse spots of umber, cuneate along shafts. 

 Wing, 10.50 ; tail, 9.50. 



Remarks. — In regard to its relationship to its nearest allies, If. cooperi 

 and N. pileatus, Mr. Lawrence {I. c. p. 8) remarks of this species : — "Avery 

 marked feature in the adult of this species is the ash-color of the breast 

 and sides, which does not exist at all in cooperi; the under surface is less 

 marked with white than in that species; the thighs are of a nearly uniform 

 rufous, which in cooperi are conspicuously barred with white; in the latter 

 the under wing-coverts are white, with longitudinal spots of rufous-brown, 

 whereas in gundlachi they are rufous barred with white. From A. pile- 

 atus, as figured in PI. Col. pi. 205, it is also very different; the adult of that 

 species has the top of the head dark slate, the upper plumage of a rather 

 light slate-blue; wings, dark slate; tail, with four dark bands, whitish 

 between; the under plumage pale whitish-blue; thighs, deep rufous; no 

 appearance of bars on any part of the plumage; under tail-coverts, white; 

 bill, bluish, under mandible yellow at the base; legs, yellow." 



In the "History of North American Birds" (iii, p. 223, foot-note), this 

 species is considered to be a geographical race of N. cooperi; and Mr. Sharpe, 

 in his great work, the " Catalogue of the Accipitres, or Diurnal Birds of 

 Prey, in the collection of the British Museum" (p. 137, foot-note), remarks 

 that it " will probably prove on examination to be identical with the 

 small, richly-colored form of A. cooperi, called by Swainson A. mexi- 

 canus ". We have shown before that the latter is not entitled to recogni- 

 tion as even a race, though we had previously accorded it that rank, while 

 Mr. Sharpe {torn. cit. p. 137) more properly places it among the synonyms 

 of y. cooperi. In regard to the N. gundlachi, the erroneous conclusions 

 of both authors were the result of lack of specimens for comparison, aud 

 too hasty examination of published descriptions. The above description 

 of the adult, copied from the original paper by Mr. Lawrence (Annals of 

 the Lyceum of Natural History of New Y'ork, vii, May, 1860, p. 252), shows 

 clearly the perfect distinctness of this Cuban species from its North 

 American ally as well as from all other species of the genus. 



List of specimens in United States National Museum. 



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