60 TALCONID^. 



Buteo eonocercus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 130 "; Trans. Z. S. iv. p. 263, t. 59 " ; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 

 1859, p. 217"; Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 46 " ; Elliot, Birds N. Am. ii. t. 33 ". 



Buteo fuliffinoms (nee Sclater), Lawr. Ann, Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 133"; v. Frantz. J. f, Orn. 1869, 

 p. 368 ". 



Niger, supra plumis omnibus ad basin albis ; fronte alba : subtus maculis celatis albis notatus ; alis fusco- 

 nigris, indistincte nigro transfasciatis, subtus griseo-albidis fusco fasciatis et variegatis ; remigum apioibus 

 nigris ; cauda supra nigra, fasciis duabus medianis fascis notata, his subtus albis, interdum irregulariter 

 confluentibus ; cera et pedibus flavis ; iride coryllina. Long, tota circa 20-0, alae 15-5, Cauda 8-0, 

 tarsi 2-8. (Descr. maris ex Hermosillo, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Juv. ad. SimUis, sed cauda nigra supra crebre fusco fasciata, fasciis bis subtus in pogonio rectricum intemo 

 albidis. 



ffab. Southern United States, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern California ^^, 

 Lower California ^o. — Mexico ^ Hermosillo in Sonora {Ferrari- Perez), Mazatlan 

 {Grayson ^, Forrer), Valley of Mexico {Herrera ^), Sierra de Valparaiso, Zacatecas 

 {W. B. Bichardson), Chietla, Puebla {Ferrari-Perez^), Vera Cruz {Salle ^); 

 Guatemala 4 7 14 le (^2fus. Cantabr.) ; Costa Riga {v. Frantzius^), San Lucas {C. F. 

 Undenvood), La Palraa ^^, San Antonio 20 {Zeledon). — Beitish Guiana ; Peku. 



The Zone-tailed Buzzard is a summer visitor to the Southern United States, where 

 it nests in Central and South-western Texas, as well as in Southern New Mexico and 

 Central and Southern Arizona, probably also in Southern California. In Lower 

 California the bird has been found nesting, near Cape San Lucas ^^. 



We have a male of this species from Mr. Ferrari-Perez, obtained at Hermosillo in 

 Sonora, in January. Mr. A. Forrer met with it at Presidio de Mazatlan, in the same 

 month, where Grayson says that it is a resident, though not common. An example 

 procured by Mr. Eichardson in the Sierra de Valparaiso in Zacatecas on the 27th 

 of July indicates that it also breeds in the mountains of this Province. 



We did not meet with this Buzzard in Guatemala, except as a moth-eaten specimen 

 in the Museum of the Sociedad Economica, at Escuintla, in June 1873 * ; but Skinner 

 obtained an example in that country, and another procured by Constancia is in the 

 Strickland Collection at Cambridge ^. Von Frantzius includes it in his list of Costa 

 Rican birds, and Mr. C. F. Underwood informs us that there is a specimen from 

 San Lucas in the National Museum at San Jose. 



This species was originally described from British Guiana, and a young bird in the 

 British Museum, from Lima in Peru, also appears to belong to it. 



The late Colonel Grayson says that its flight is easy and graceful, the bird frequently 

 soaring to a great height. From its mode of flight and gyrations, as well as in colour, 

 it resembled at a distance a Turkey- Vulture ^. The food is said to consist of lizards, 

 frogs, and fishes, as well as small Rodents. 



The nest is large and bulky, composed of sticks and lined with a few leaves. 

 The eggs are white or bluish white, and seldom show any reddish-brown spots or 

 blotches 10. 



