BIRDS — ^BUTEONINAE — ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS. 



37 



EL ANUS LEUCUKUS, Yieillot. 



The White-tailed Hawk; the Black-shonldeied Hawk. 



JWilvus leucurus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XX, 563, (1818.) 



Falco dispar, Temminck, PI, Col. I, (liv. 54, about 1824.) 



" Falco melanoplerus, Daudin." Bonap. Jour. Acad. Fhilada. V, 28. 



" Falco dispar, Temm." Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 367. 



Figures.— Bonap. Am. Orn. II, pi. 11, 6g. 1 ; Temm. PI. Col. 319 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. 352 ; Oct. ed. I, pi. 16 ; Gay, Nat. 

 Hist. Chili, Orn. pi. 2. 



.Adult. — Head and tail and entire under parts white. Upper parts fine light cinereous ; lesser wing coverts glossy black, 

 which forms a large oblong patch from the shoulder ; inferior wing coverts white, with a smaller black patch. Middle feathers 

 of the tail light ashy, uniform with other upper parts ; bill dark ; tarsi and toes yellow. 



Total length, female, ISj to 17 inches ; wing, 12 inches ; tail, 7j inches. Male smaller. 



Hah. — Southern and western States and South America. Spec, in Nat. Mus., Washington, and Mus. Acad., Philadelphia. 



Of this very handsome hawk four specimens are in the collection, two of which are from the 

 neighborhood of San Francisco, California. These specimens are lahelled as having been 

 collected in the winter of 1853-'54, which fact, with others of a similar character which have 

 come to our knowledge, show that this bird is one of several now known to inhabit a much 

 more northern range of locality on the Pacific than on the Atlantic coast of the United States. 

 Though found in all the States on the southern confines of the United States, the white-tailed 

 hawk has rarely^ we believe, been observed north of South Carolina. 



List of specimens. 



ICTINIA, Vieill ot. 



Ictinia, Vieillot, Analyse, p. 24, (1816.) 



General form short and compact. Bill short, tip emarginated ; wings long, pointed ; tail rather short, emarginaled ; tarsi 

 short. Contains two species only — one of North and the other of South America. 



ICTINIA MISSISSIPPIENSIS, Wilson. 



Mississippi Kite. 



Falco mississippiensis, Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, p. 80, (1811.) 

 Falco ophiophagua, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XI, 103, (1817.) 

 " Ictinia plunibea, Gm." Add. Orn. Eiog. II, 108. 



f lennES.- Wilson Am. Orn. Ill, pi. 25, fig. 1 ; Aud. B. of Am., pi. 117 : Oct. ed. 1, pi. 17. 



Mult. Upper parts of body dark lead color, nearly black on the rump ; head and under parts cinereous, darkest on the 



abdomen ; quills and tail brownish black, the latter with a bluish or purplish lustre ; tips of secondary quills ashy white ; a 

 longitudinal stripe on each web of the primaries, chestnut rufous. 



Young. Upper parts brownish black mixed with dull rufous and white ; head and under parts dull yellowish white, with 



longitudinal stripes of reddish brown, darker and more numerous on the head, lighter and frequently clear rufous on the abdomen. 



Total length, female, about 15 inches ; wing, 11 to llj inches ; tail, 6i inches. Male, total length, about 14 inches ; wing, 

 11 inches ; tail, 6 inches. 



Haft —Southern States, Texas, and New Mexico, (Woodhouse.) 



