82 TALCONID^. 



Arenas (0. SJ), San Jose (v. Frantzius'^^, Cherrie^^), Angostura (Carmiol^^), 

 Jimenez. Pozo Azul de Pirriz, Talamanca {Zeledon^'^), Miravalles {Underwood), 

 La Palma, Gulf of Nicoya [Nutting 23), Mirabayes, Nicoya {E. Arce) ; Panama 

 {M'Leannan ^^ ^^), Chitra, Bugaba i^, Chepo {E. ArcS), Punta de Sabana, Forests 

 near Laguna de Pita {Festa 42),— Colombia ^^ ; Venezuela ; Antilles, St. Vincent, 

 St. Lucia, 



The Black Buzzard -Hawk is a summer visitor to the Southern United States, nesting 

 in Arizona and Texas. It is widely distributed throughout Mexico, and probably 

 breeds there, as it does in Guatemala, where Owen procured the eggs ^. 



Grayson says that U. anthracina frequents the esteros and watercourses in the hot 

 regions ^^, and Sumichrast found it at an elevation of 1000 metres above the sea-level ^i. 

 Its food consists chiefly of land-crabs, reptiles, and fish. Captain Bendire records 

 having found a nest about thirty feet from the ground, composed of large sticks much 

 decayed beneath, and lined several inches deep with leaves of the cotton-tree. The 

 eggs are usually one or two in number, of a pale greenish-white, marked with small 

 irregular spots and lines varying in colour from light to dark brown. 



It is said to be very shy during the breeding-season, but much tamer in its winter 

 haunts. 



LEUCOPTERNIS. 



Leucopternis, Kaup, Isis, 1847, p. 210; Salvin, Ibis, 1872, p. 241. 

 Urubitinga, partim, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 212. 



The structural differences between the present genus and Urubitinga are very slight, 

 and Dr. Sharpe united them in the ' Catalogue of Birds.' The chief characters in 

 Leucopternis consist in the somewhat shorter tarso-metatarsus and the proportionately 

 longer toes, while a more important feature is the similarity of the plumage in both 

 the adult and young birds, whereas in Urubitinga the difference in this respect is 

 strikingly accentuated. 



Of the ten species of Leucopternis known, four are inhabitants of Central America, 

 L. ghiesbreghti and L. princeps being confined to that region. 



1. Leucopternis ghiesbreghti. 



Buteo ghiesbreghti, DuBus, Esq. Om. t. 1 ' ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 227 =■; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, 

 p. 217 ' ; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 288 " ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 158 '. 



Pcedlopternis ghiesbrechti, v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 368 '. 



Leucopternis ghiesbreghti, Scl. & Salv. Ex. Om. p. 121 ' ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 215 '; Ibis, 1872, 

 p. 323 ' ; Ridgw. Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. ii. p. 174 " ; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica, 

 1887, p. 126"; Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. x. p. 592"; Richmond, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 xvi. p. 521 " ; Sharpe, Hand-1. Birds, i. p. 259 ". 



Urubitinga ghiesbreghti, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 217 " ; Boucard, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 44" ; 

 Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 236 ". 



