EED-TAILED HAWK 135 



When fully expanded it has a rounded outline and a 

 ragged appearance owing to the separation of the first 

 five or six primaries, as I noticed the male bird while 

 resting. The first primary short ; they stand, first and 

 eighth, seventh, sixth, second, fifth, third, fourth. The 

 fifth and third are about the same length, and the 

 fourth only a quarter of an inch longer than the third. 

 As in the Buteo vulgaris of MacGillivray, found in 

 Europe and in our north, the four first primaries 

 " abruptly cut out on the inner web " ; the second, 

 third, fourth, and fifth, but not the first and sixth, 

 " slightly so on the outer." There are ten primaries 

 and there are fourteen secondaries. (MacGillivray says 

 the primaries of the Falconince are ten, the seconda- 

 ries from thirteen to eighteen.) The wing, I see, natu- 

 rally opens at the primaries. 



This is evidently very closely allied to the Buteo 

 vulgaris, but apparently the wings are not so long com- 

 pared with the tail, and there is a difference in the 

 comparative length and stoutness of the toes ; the feet 

 of this are not " bright yellow," and the upper man- 

 dible is much stouter and more recurved at tip, judging 

 from his plate of the head and his description. It is 

 recurved as much as his osprey's. 



The ear looked like a large round hole in the side 

 of the head behind the eye. 



The egg is a very dirty brownish white, with brown 

 spots about the smaller end, though one end is about 

 as large as the other. It is larger than a hen's egg, — 

 2| inches by 2. 



