FALCONID^ — BUTEONINJE : BUZZ ABBS. 649 



a small but stout Buteo, with ample wings and tail, very different from any of the foregoing, 

 aiid easily recognized by its size and proportions, aside from color. A large ? resembles a 

 timaU $ B. lineatus in some respects, but the difference is too great to require detailed com- 

 parison. Nesting nowise peculiar ; eggs 3-5, 2.00 X 1.60, heavily marked. 

 882, 883. B. brachyu'rus. (Gr. /3pa;(ur, ftractes, short ; oupa, owro, tail.). FuLlGlNOUS BuzZAED. 

 Resembling B. abbreviatus in being blackish or fuliginous all over, but entirely another bird, 

 belonging to a different section of the genus. Only three primaries are abruptly emarginate on 

 the inner web, though the next one is sinuate. Adult ? ? Color fuliginous, or dark umber- 

 brown, nearly uniform, but barred on the under wing- and tail-coverts with white, and the 

 feathers of the hind head and nape iieeoy- white at base ; the color blackening on the exposed 

 surfaces of the primaries, the inner webs of which are extensively whitened, with the usual 

 dark bars ; little white, however, on the secondaries, excepting the inner ones, most of them 

 being simply spaced gray or light brown between their dark bars. Tail-pattern as usual in 

 yov/ng hawks of this genus, there being numerous (6 or 8 exposed) blackish and lighter grayish 

 bars alternating, the subterminal one of each broadest, the whole tail tipped with grayish- 

 white ; the inner webs of all the feathers excepting the central pair whitening in the spaces 

 between the dark bars. Length 16.00; wing 13.00; tail 7-00; tarsus 2.00. (Described from 

 No. 12,117, Mus. Smiths. Inst., from Mazatlan, Mex., agreeing with B. fuliginosus ScL, P. Z. S., 

 1858, p. 356; Tr. Z. S., 1858, p. 267, pi. Ixii ; a bird supposed to be the yowig of the same 

 is B. ooeypterus, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad., 1855, p. 283; both are treated as a. variety of B. 

 swainsoni by Kidgway, Hist. N. A. B., iii, 1874, p. 266 ; but are now supposed to be melanistic 

 adult, and young, of a good species, probably B. hrcmhyurus VieUl., which normally has the 

 face and most under; parts, white.) Mexican border, Florida, and southward. 

 181. ABCHIBU'TEO. (Lat. arcM-, from Gr. apxoi, archos, a leader, chief; buteo, a buzzard.) 

 Haee-footed Bczzaeds. Chars, of Buteo proper, but tarsi feathered in front to the toes, 

 naked and reticulate along a strip behind. Wings very long ; 3d and 4th quills longest ; 1st 

 shorter than 7th; 4 or 5 emarginate on inner webs. A small group, well marked by the char- 

 acter of the feet. The species are among the largest of the bnzzard-hawks, but are rather dull 

 heavy birds, preying upon humble quarry, especially small quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. 



Analysis of Species 



Below, white, variously dark-marked, and ■ ften With a broad black abdominal zone, but generally no 



ferruginous ; in melanotic state, whole plumage nearly uniform blackish. . lagopus sancti^oliannis 525 



Below, pure white, scarcely or not marked, excepting that the legs are rich rufous with black bars, 

 in marked contrast ; above, varied with dark brown, chestnut and white ; quills brown, with much 

 white ; tail silvery-ash and white, clouded with brown or rufous femigineus 526 



535. A. lago'pus sancti-johan'nis. (Gr. 'Kayintovs, lagopous, hare-footed ; Lat. sancti-johannis, 

 of St. John, Newfoundland. Pig. 383.) American Kough-legged Buzzard. "Black 

 Hawk." Adult $ ? : Too variable in plumage to be concisely described. In general, the 

 whole plumage with dark brown or blackish and light brown, gray, or whitish, the lighter 

 colors edging or barring the individual feathers ; tendency to excess of the whitish on the head, 

 and to the formation of a dark abdominal zone or area which may or may not include the tibise ; 

 usually a blackish anteorbital and maxillary area. Lining of wings extensively blackish. Tail 

 usually white from the base for some distance, then with dark and light barring. The inner 

 webs of the flight-feathers extensively white from the base, usually with little if any of the 

 dark barring so prevalent among buteonine hawks. From such a light and variegated plum- 

 age as this, the bird varies to more or less nearly uniform blackish, in which case the tail is 

 usually barred several times with white. Our lighter-colored birds are not fairly separable 

 from the normal European A. lagopus ; but our birds average darker, and their frequent mel- 

 anism does not appear to befall the European stock. But in any plumage the rough-leg is 

 known at a glance from any Buteo by the feathered shanks ; while the ])eculiar coloration of 



