142 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIOl^S IN ALASKA. 



The characters upon which this race are based are mainly the intensity of the dark markings 

 on the abdominal surface and the extension of the dark color of the crown over a large part of 

 the entire dorsal surface. In striatulus the under surface differs also in the abundance and inten- 

 sity of the markings on the throat, which in the new race is as profusely marked as the breast; 

 the ashy-brown of the markings on the breast are very dark, becoming blackish-brown, and in 

 No. 85625 the entire under surface has a dark sooty wash. On the crown the color varies from a 

 dark sooty to a glossy black, and this color extends over the nape to the back, covering the scap- 

 ulars and extending even to the rump in some cases, but usually shading to a dark bluish-ashy on 

 the posterior half of the back. The wings are very dark brown.* The tail is also much darker than 

 in atricapillus. The young birds may be distinguished by their generally darker color and the 

 large size and intensity of the linear markings on abdomen and breast. There is a young bird 

 from Sitka, and several from Oregon, California, and Washington Territory, all of which agree in 

 these characters. The white postocular line in this form is more obscured by dark markings, and 

 the whole may be summed up by saying that striatulns is a dark, northwest coast race of the Gos- 

 hawk, characterized, like other geographical races of that region, by the great predominance of 

 the dark markings as compared with birds of eastern and northern localities. The only bird 

 amoDg the large series of atricapillus in the National Museum collection which approaches the new 

 race in its dark colors and intense markings is one from New Jersey, which is very dark colored. 

 This appears to be a solitary example of individual variation, as among a series of twenty-five 

 birds examined this proves to be the only exception. 



' BuTEO BOEEALis CALTJEXJS (Cass.). Western Eedtail. 



The only known instance of this bird's occurrence in the Territory is recorded (loe. cit.) by 

 Dr. Bean, who secured a bird in the young plumage near Sitka, June 5, 1880. 



149. BuTEO SWAINSONI Bouap. Swainson's Hawk. 



During my residence in the north this bird did not fall under my notice either alive or dead. 

 Dall obtained a skin of this bird near Nulato on May 26, 1867, and adds that it prefers the 

 thickets and wooded places, building a large nest of sticks. It begins to lay the last of April 

 and the young are hatched by the end of May, about the time the ice leaves the rivers. He found 

 the bones of rabbits, squirrels, mice, and ducks, and even part of a whitefish, in the vicinity of 

 their nests, showing that they are ready to prey upon anything that falls in their way. It is 

 a summer visitor and occurs on the Lower Mackenzie and Anderson Rivers, whence specimens have 

 been sent to the Smithsonian . The Alaskan specimen taken on the Yukon was in the melanistic or 

 insignatus state. This appears to be a common species in the middle and southern parts of British 

 America, but is rare farther north, where it arrives about the 1st of Aj)ril or later, leaving toward 

 the end of September. It is not known beyond the wooded country, and there is no record of its 

 occurrence on the southeastern coast of the Territory, although it is likely to be found in that 

 region. It is also unknown from the islands of Bering Sea and the barren coast of that sea and 

 the Arctic. 



. Aechibuteo lagopus (Briinn.). Rough-legged Hawk (Esk. Pi-to-gliuk). 



Several specimens from Saint Michaels and one obtained by me at Unalaska Island (the parent 

 of the eggs secured there) are indistinguishable from European birds contained in the National 

 Museum collection. On the northern coast of Alaska, including the shore of Bering Sea and the 

 Arctic, and thence in the interior along the entire course of the Yukon, many specimens of the 

 Rough-legged Hawk have been taken, but none from this region are in the melanistic phase so 

 common among birds from the Hudson's Bay country. In fact all the specimens from Northwestern 

 Alaska appear to be referable to the Old World form, as certainly are the examples mentioned. 

 A specimen from Saint Michaels (No. 833) possesses a large amount of white upon the back and 

 head, and the purity of the light edges to the feathers on the head, unshaded by yellowish-buff, 

 gives the head the appearance at a short distance of being pure white, and this is characteristic of 

 those birds which approach or are identical with the European form. 



