72 FALCONID.E. 



subtus nigris ; remigibns intus albis, griseo marmoratis vel fasciatis. Long, tota circa 15-8, alae 11-7, 

 candfe 6-2, tarsi 2-25. (Descr. exempl. ex Alvarado, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 

 Juv. FuUginoso-niger ; cauda fasciis nigris 8 notata : snbtus fasciis celatis albis vel ochraceis variegatns; 

 facie lateraH nigricante, regione parotica nigro Hneata. (Descr. maris juv. ex Miami, Florida. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



Bob. North Amekica, Florida ^ ^ ^^.—Mexico {Boucard 27), Tamaulipas {Mus. Worv. ^^ i^), 

 Alvarado {Ferrari-Perez), Jalapa {de Oca''^^), Tehuantepec city 26, Tonalai* 

 {Sumichrast), Cozumel Island {U. S. S. 'Albatross ' 3 i6) ^ Guatemala" 20 {Skinner % 

 Coban {0. S.^°) ; Nicaeagua, Escondido "River {Richmond^); Costa Kica, San Jose 

 {Cherrie% Irazu {Underwood), San Antonio {v. Frantzius), La Palma {Zeledon, 

 V. Frantzius); Panama, Calobre, Calovevora2 {Arce).—CohoiiBiA^^ ; Venezuela 22; 

 Amazons 12; Brazil 25; Peru^^; Bolivia. 



The black form of this Buzzard {£. fuliginosus) was originally described by 

 Dr. Sclater" from a specimen from Tamaulipas in the Norwich Museum. In the 

 'Catalogue of Birds' (vol. i. p. 185) the species was referred to B, obsoletus (i.e., 

 B. swainsmi of this work), but this was a mistake. Since the latter work was published 

 B. fuliginosus has been considered by some ornithologists to be merely a melanistic 

 phase of B. brachyurus, whilst others treat the two forms as distinct. The latter 

 view has recently been taken by Professor Ridgway (' Manual of North American 

 Birds,' 2nd edit. pp. 236, 2.37). Both forms occur in Florida, and throughout Central 

 America to Colombia, but in other portions of South America only the white-breasted 

 bird has been found, and the black-breasted one is either very rare or has escaped 

 observation. 



The question as to whether Buteo bracliyurus and B. fuliginosus are different 

 species, or whether they are phases of a single dimorphic form, must, in face of 

 the evidence produced by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, who has found the two supposed 

 species breeding together in Florida 22, now be considered as settled. In one instance 

 a pair of birds was shot by him, and the female proved to be the white-breasted form 

 {B. brachyurus), while the male was the black B. fuliginosus. Subsequent observations 

 in the same State have tended to confirm this sexual distinction of colour in the male 

 and female ; but we are inclined to believe that these differences in the colour of the 

 plumage may occasionally be reversed in the two sexes. The bird which has hitherto 

 been called B. fuliginosus must, in future, be considered as the melanistic form of 

 B. brachyurus. In the specimens examined by us we have not found the slightest sign 

 of any intergradation, although, in the winter habitat of the species in South America, 

 the two forms have not as yet been found in the same locality. 



In a specimen of the dark form {B. fuliginosus) from Mexico, which may not be a 

 very old bird, the plumage is not so black as in some others in our collection. One 

 from Calobre, in Panama, has a grey shade over the black plumage, and has the under 

 tail-coverts broadly banded with white, while the under surface of the quills is almost 

 entirely black, with only some ovate white marks towards the base of the primaries 



