FALCONin^ — POLYBOEINJE: CABACARAS. 539 



the above species in darlc rufous lower parts, and dusky, mottled inner «'el)S of priniuricH." 

 (llidgway.) Cuba ; Florida. 

 511. F. fuscicoerules'eens. (Lat. fuscus, dark; cosrulescens, bluish.) Femohal Falcon. 

 Ai'LOMADO Falcon. Quite different fi'om any of the foregoing species, though helouging to 

 the sparrow hawk group (Tinnunculus) ; it has been made a separate subgenus (lilujncho- 

 f(ilco). Bill robust, with large cere; irregular scutellation of tarsus continuous on the toes; 

 tarsus a Uttle longer than middle toe without claw ; 2d and 3d quills longest ; 1st about equal 

 to 4th ; 1st and 2d eniarginate on inner webs ; 2d and 3d sinuate on outer webs. Size 

 medium (among the smallei- falcons); form slender; sexes alike. Adult (J $ : Above, uniform 

 plumbeous ; tail with about 8 narrow white bars, and tipped with white, as are the secondaries ; 

 primaries with numerous narrow white bars on inner webs, mostly l>eing isolated transver.se 

 spots, reaching neither shaft nor inner edge of the feathers; the same pattern less definitely 

 continued on to the secondaries. Side of head with a broad white or tawny postocular stripe, 

 continuous with the narrowly white ftu'ehead, shading into orange-ltrown on tlio nape, where 

 C(jntluent with its fellow ; auriculars mostly white, set in the black of the side of the head, but 

 continuous with the white of the throat, so tliat a black sujjra-auricular stripe meets a l>lack 

 mystacial stripe under the eye. Sides of body and a broad helly-baud bla(.-k, with or without 

 numcrijus narrow white bars; the extent of this Ijlack very variable; it usually leaves the 

 breast white or tawny, but in younger specimens the wlxile breast is streaked with black on a 

 tawny ground. Throat usually white. Lining of wings blackish, spotted with white, the 

 border mostly white or tawny. Flanks, flags, and crissum unifonn tawny or orange-brown. 

 Young sufficiently similar, but upper parts rather dark brown than plumbeous. Length 1.5.00 

 or more; wing 10.00-11.00; tail 7.00-8.00; tarsus 1.75; middle toe without claw LfjO. A 

 handsome hawk, well-known and wide-ranging in S. and C. Am., reaching just over our Mex- 

 ican border. Nest in trees or bushes; eggs l.SO X 1.65, wliite, finely dotted with light brown, 

 overlaid with blotches of dark brown. 



46. Subfamily POLYBORIN/E: Caracaras. 



Anatomical characters of Ftikonina; pmper, in the scapular arrangement by which a pro- 

 cess of the coracoid reaches the clavicle, the central tubercle of the extensively ossified nasal 

 Ix.ines, the anterior keel of the palate, and the superorhital shield in a single piece ; e.Kternal 

 characters very unlike those of Falconince, and general aspect vulturine. Bill toothless. 

 Sternum single-notched on each side behind. Three or more primaries .sinuate-emarginate on 

 inner webs; 3d or 4th longest ; 1st shorter than 5th. A small but remarkable group, com- 

 bining s<jme of the essential characters of faL-ons with others uKjre vulture-like ; the species are 

 chiefly terrestrial, rather sluggish, and feed nmch on carrion. The genera are Polyhorus 

 Ph.alcohanus, Seiiex, 3IiJuafio, Ihi/cter, and Baptriuti, all confined to America. 

 179, POLY'BORUS. (Gr. noXvfiopo^, polijhoros, very voracious. Fig. 379.) Caracaeas. Bill 

 long, high, much compressed, little hooked, the commissure nearly straight to the deflected 

 end ; cere ending anteriorly in a nearly straight vertical line ; nostril high in the front upper 

 corner of the cere, linear, obUque, its posteri.jr end uppermost, its tubercle concealed. Chin 

 and sides of head bristly, extensively denuded; a naked peot.iral area; an occipital crest. 

 Tibia; shortly flagged. Tarsus nearly twice as loug as middle toe without claw, almost 

 entn-ely naked, chiefly reticulate, but in front broadly scutellate in single or double row • 

 lateral toes of about equal lengths; hind toe much the shortest; claws long and little curved' 

 Wmgs very long, with 3d and 4th quills longest, 2d and 5th next, 1st shorter than 6th or 7th ■ 

 outer 4 or 5 emarginate. Tail rounded, about f as long as wine'. Comprising two or three 

 species of large vulture-like carrion hawks, of terrestrial habits, and ambulatorial, not salta- 

 torial, gait, P. cherway, P. cmduboni, and P. lutosus, of the warmer parts of America 

 535. P.au'duboni. (To J. J. Audubon.) Common Caracara. Ad. ^ ?: Gen.-ral color blackish 



