12 BIRDS OF TIEKRA DEL FUEGO 



size, and very swift in the air. I have observed young birds 

 of this species follow me out rabbit-hunting, and I have seen 

 them swoop at a rabbit, but I never saw them kill one." 



The flight is described by Durnford as " very quick and 

 graceful ; few birds are a match for this Harrier ; and as it sweeps 

 rapidly over the ground, now scarcely clearing the tops of the 

 high grass, and the next minute rising to drop on some luckless 

 victim, it is impossible not to admire its great strength of wing." 

 In Central Patagonia, on the 26th October, he found " many 

 pairs nesting on some low swampy ground amongst long grass. 

 The nest is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a few pieces 

 of grass ; and the complement of eggs two or three ; the latter 

 are of a dirty white colour." 



BUTEO ERYTHRONOTUS (King) 

 Halisetus erythronotus, King, Zooi. Joum., m, p. 424, 1828. 



ButeO tricolor, D'Orhigny, Voy. Amer. Merid., Ois., p. 106, pi. iii, 

 c? ?,1835. 



ButeO erythronotus, Gotdd and Darwin, Voy. " Beagle," Birds, 

 p. 26, 1841 ; Abbott, Ibis, p. 151, 1861; Sharpe, Cat Birds Brit. Mtis., i, 

 p. 172, 1874; Durnford, Ibis, p. 38, 1877, p. 397, 1878; Oustalet, Miss. 

 Set. Cap Horn, Ois., p. 28, 1891 ; Sclater and Hudsov, Argentine Orn., ii, 

 p. 62, 1889 ; Oates, Gat. Birds' Bggs Brit. Mus., ii, p. 252, 1902. 



ButeO varius, Gassin, U.S. Expl. Exp., Orn., p. 92, pi. iii, 1858. 



Habitat. — Peru and Chili, to Tierra del Fuego ; the Falkland Islands. 



One egg,, San Sebastian Settlement, 4th Oct. ; $ , Sara Settlement, 7th 

 Oct. ; juv. sk., 10th Oct. ; $ , Rio McClelland Settlement, 9tli Dec. ; juv. sk., 

 21st Dec, 1904. 



Ii'is — old gold ; bill — grey ; legs — pale yellow. 



Life measurement, wing tip to wing tip, 4 ft. 4i\ in. 



The variation between the inadult and adult plumage of the 

 Rufous-backed Buzzard is so great that many have been led to 

 believe the two forms distinct species. I was myself deceived in 



