ewe. 



Tf!.-a-.- ^»-«^j.-»_ .»^^^/«- ;6f^ ^^ >*^*^ ^T^ <^^j^7 .*>^ 



Plate XVII. 



ACCIPITER ERYTHR0CNEMI8. 



(EED-THIGHED SPAEEOW-HAWK). 



f i''fl!Zco ««SMS ...... Max. Beitr. iii. p. 111. 



Nistis striatus Burm. Syst. TJeb. ii. p. 71. 



Accipiter erythrocnemis .... G. E. Gray, List of Accipitres,p. 70, (1848). 



Mms fringillarius, subsp. erytlirocnemius . Sclater.P.Z.S. 1866, p. 303; Kaup,Arch. f. Nat. xvi. Bd. i. p. 34,(1850). 



Nisus vel Accipiter erythronemim _ . . Kaup, Contr. Om. 1850, p. 64. 



Supra fumido-niger ; subtus albus, pectore et lateribus striia rachidum nigris item fasciis angustis transversis 

 subobsolete notatis : tibiis Isetfe fcmigineis : cauda fusco-nigra, fasciis latis sex, subtus albis, supra grisescenti-fuscis, 

 ornata : alarum remigibus subtus albo nigroque transvittatis ; subalaribus albis : rostro nigro, cera flavida ; pedibus 

 flavis: long, tota 11-0, alee 6-6, caudse 5-0, tarsi 1-9, dig. med. cum ungue 1'5. Avis junior, /asm. subtus maculis 

 triangularibus omnino notatus et hypocbondriis quoque ferrugineis : long, tota 12'0, alsB 7-7, caudsB 6'0, tarsi 1'9. 



Hab. in Brasilia, Merid. Orient. 



It miglit, no doubt, be possible to find older synonyms of Vieillot, and other authors in all 

 probability applicable to this species, which seems to represent om- common Sparrow-hawk, 

 in Brazil. But looking to the state of confusion into which the American members of this group 

 have been thrown by the practice of endeavouring to identify the vague descriptions of the 

 older authors, we think it more prudent to retain for the present bird a name, which, having 

 access to the typical specimens, we can affirm is undoubtedly applicable to it. Under 

 our illustration of the nearly allied Accipiter chionogaster (antea PI. XIV.) we have pointed out 

 the distinctions between this and the Guatemalan bird, — the only American species with which 

 it can be easily confounded when adult, though in the immature forms of all the species there 

 is, of course, a very general resemblance. 



Prince Maximilian of Neu Wied, who identifies this bird with the European Sparrow-hawk, 

 did not himself procure it in Brazil, but obtained one specimen from a collector, near Bahia, 

 Burmeister calls it striatus, after VieUlot, but Vieillot's Accipiter striatus, (Ois. de I'Am. Sept. I. 

 p. 42, t. 14), is founded on a species of St. Domingo, most probably referable to Accipiter fuscus, 

 and we cannot therefore use his name. Burmeister, however, very accurately points out the 

 differences between the present species and A. fuscus, and truly states it to be more nearly allied to 

 the Em-opean A. nisus. He tells us, moreover, that it is a common species in the district of Brazil 

 which he traversed, often coming near the villages and feeding on small passerine birds, (such as 

 Zonotrichia pileata), after the same fashion as our well-known Sparrow-hawk. Burmeistai* obtained 



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