ARCHIBUTEO. — BUTEO. 55 



but it is apparently not uncommon in winter in Texas, on the north side of the Rio 

 Grande. That it occurs in Northern and Central Mexico can hardly be doubted ; but 

 our evidence that it does so rests partly on three specimens in the British Museum 

 which have been in the collection for many years, and partly on the statement of 

 Mr. Ridgway that the bird occurs in Mexico, though we have no precise information 

 on. the subject. Capt. Bendire ^, however, speaks of it as " wintering abundantly in 

 Western Texas, many passing south into Mexico." 



The species breeds from the Plains of the Saskatchewan south to Utah, Colorado, 

 and Kansas. It is a fine and handsome bird, building a large nest of sticks, lined with 

 turf, in a tree or, in sparsely-wooded districts, on the ground. In some instances, where 

 sticks are difficult to procure, the bird has been known to utilize the bones from a 

 buffalo's skeleton for the construction of its nest. The eggs are three or four in 

 number, and are somewhat richly mottled with rufous markings. 



BUTEO. 



Butep, Cuvier, Lej. Anat. Comp. i. tab. (1800), et auctt. ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 164. 

 Tachytriorchis, Kaup, Classif. Saug. u. Vog. p. 123; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 161. 

 Buteola, Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. xli. p. 651 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 201. 

 Anterior, Ridgway (nee Montf.) in Baird, Brewer, & Ridgw. Hist. N. Amer. Birds, iii. p. 248. 

 Parabuteo, Ridgway, t. c. p. 248, note. 

 Erythrocnema, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 84. 



The genus Buteo extends throughout a large portion of the world, some thirty species 

 being distributed over Europe, Asia, Africa, and Madagascar, as well as North and 

 South America. Some dozen species occur within our limits, of which B. allicaudatus, 

 B. zonocercus, B. brachyurus, and B. albifrons belong to South-American rather than 

 to Northern forms, the others being of Northern type and visiting Mexico and Central 

 America only in the winter season. 



Dr. Sharpe divides the genus Buteo, as here understood, into four genera, viz. 

 Erythrocnema, Tachytriorchis, Buteo, and Buteola. Tachytriorchis has a rather shorter 

 tail than the others, but does not materially differ ; Buteola, in his arrangement, is 

 placed in the same section as Archihuteo, and is said to differ from true Buteo by the 

 presence of a tubercle in the nasal opening. We have failed to find this character, 

 the nostrils of Buteola being just like those of Buteo. Lastly, Buteo harrisi, which 

 Dr. Sharpe places in his subfamily Accipitrinee, is considered by Dr. Coues a subgenus 

 of Buteo, which we think its more appropriate place. 



Dr. Coues's divisions of the genus seem fairly natural, and are based mainly on 

 the number of primaries which are emarginate on the inner webs. They are as 

 follows : — 



