RED-TAILED HAWK. 271 



Bill short, robust, at the base as broad as deep, compressed towards 

 the end, cerate ; upper mandible, with the dorsal outline, convex from the 

 base, rounded on the sides, the edges with an obtuse lobe, the tip trigo- 

 nal, descending obliquely, acute ; lower mandible involute at the edges, 

 truncate at the end, broadly rounded on the back. Nostrils roundish, 

 nearly dorsal, in the fore part of the cere. Head large, flat above. Neck 

 shortish, robust. Body bulky. Legs rather long, very robust ; tarsi 

 stout, scutellate before and behind, the sides covered with hexagonal 

 scales ; toes scutellate above, scaly on the sides, scabrous and tubercular 

 beneath ; claws roundish, strong, curved, very acute. 



Plumage compact and firm ; feathers of the head and neck rather nar- 

 row, of the other parts broad and rounded. Tarsus feathered anteriorly 

 about one-third down. Wings long, ample, rounded, the fourth quill 

 longest, the first short. Tail of twelve broad, rounded feathers, even, and 

 of ordinary length. 



Bill light blue, blackish at the tip, greenish-yellow on the margin to- 

 wards the base ; cere greenish-yellow. Iris hazel. Tarsi and toes yel- 

 low ; claws brownish-black. Upper part of the head light brownish- - 

 grey. Loral space and under eyelid white. A broad band of dark 

 brown from the angle of the movith backwards. Neck above and on the 

 sides reddish-yellow, with large deep brown spots. Back deep brown ; 

 scapulars of the same colour, broadly margined and tipped with brownish- 

 white. Lesser wing-coverts chocolate-brown ; larger lighter brown, tip- 

 ped with white. Primary quills blackish-brown ; secondaries lighter, tip- 

 ped with brownish-white ; all barred with blackish. Upper teil-coverts 

 whitish, barred with brown, and yellowish-red in the middle. Tail bright 

 yellowish-red, tipped with whitish, and having a narrow bar of black near 

 the end. Lower parts brownish-white ; the fore part of the breast and 

 neck light yeUowish-red, the former marked with guttiform, somewhat 

 sagittate brown spots : abdomen and chin white ; feathers of the leg and 

 tarsus pale reddish-yellow, those on the outside indistinctly spotted. 



Length 20^ inches, extent of wings 46 ; bill along the back 1^, along 

 the gap 2 ; tarsus 3^, middle toe 2|. Wings when closed reaching to 

 within two inches of the tip of the tail. 



Adult Female. Plate LI. Fig. 9. 



The female, which is considerably larger, agrees with the male in the 

 general distribution of its colouring. The upper parts are darker, and 



