ASTVRINA. 



239 



a\ Tarsus 3.50 or less ; upper tail-coverts in adult black barred or tipped -with white. 

 Adult : Uniform black, -with a chalky or glaucous cast in certain lights ; 

 upper tail-coverts narrowly tipped with white ; tail black, the tip and 

 base white, and crossed at about the middle by a broad band of white of 

 variable width. Young : Above brownish black, varied by ochraceous or 

 rusty edgings and spots ; head, neck, and lower parts pale ochraceous, 

 striped with brownish black ; thighs barred with the same ; tail crossed 

 by about seven narrow oblique bands of black and whitish, of variable 

 relative width. Downy young : " Covered with dense woolly down, nearly 

 white on head and breast, passing into grayish posteriorly upon the head, 

 throat, sides of breast, tibise, and back." (Mearns.) Male: Length 

 about 21.50, wing 13.15-14.90, tail 7.90-9.75, culmen 1.00-1.05, tarsus 

 3.20-3.40, middle toe 1.60-1.70. Female: Length about 22.50, wing 

 14.25-16.00, tail 9.25-11.00, culmen 1.05-1.10, tarsus 3.00-3.50, middle 

 toe 1.65-1.80. Nest in large trees. Eggs 2-3, 2.10 X 1-75, plain white. 

 Sab. Tropical America in general, north to southern Arizona. 



345. U. anthracina (Licht.). Mexican Black Hawk. 



Genus ASTURINA Vieillot. (Page 223, pi. LXYIII., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



a 1 . Adult with upper parts very indistinctly barred, or almost uniform. Young, 

 with thighs distinctly barred with dusky, and lighter tail-bands grayish 

 brown. 

 Adult: Above deep ash-gray, the top of head and hind-neck with fine 

 blackish shaft-streaks, the wing-coverts with indistinct paler bars; upper 

 tail-coverts plain white ; tail black, tipped with grayish or white, and 

 crossed by two to three narrow bands of white, the anterior one nar- 

 rower and more or less interrupted ;• quills black, margined at tips with 

 whitish ; lower parts white, everywhere, except on lower tail-coverts, 

 very regularly barred with deep cinereous, these bars narrower, and the 

 white interspaces correspondingly wider, on flanks and abdomen. Young : 

 Above dark brown, the head and neck streaked, the middle wing-coverts 

 and greater portion of outer webs of scapulars irregularly spotted, with 

 ochraceous or buffy (usually of a pinkish cast) ; upper-tail-coverts white, 

 marked near tips with one or two small spots of dusky ; tail grayish 

 brown, tipped with paler (the extreme tip usually whitish), and crossed 

 by six or seven narrow bands of black, these becoming gradually, but 

 decidedly, smaller toward the base; lower parts white, more or less 

 tinged (especially on sides and under wing-coverts) with pinkish buff, 

 the breast, belly, and sides with large tear-shaped or wedge-shaped 

 stripes or longitudinal spots of blackish, the thighs narrowly barred 

 with the same. Length about 16.00-18.00, wing 9.50-11.70, tail 6.70- 

 8.20, culmen .75-1.00, tarsus 2.50-2.85, middle toe 1.35-1.75. Nest in 

 trees. Eggs 2-3, 1.99 X 1-59, white, usually very faintly and sparsely 



