BIRDS. 



21 



south, and on the opposite side of the Cordillera, it is replaced by an allied 

 species, — the 31. albogularis of Santa Cruz. 



5. MlLVAGO MEGALOPTERUS. 



Aquila megaloptera, Met/en, Nov. Act. Acad. C»s. Suppl. 1834, p. 64. PI. VIII. 



When ascending the Despoblado, a branch of the valley of Copiap6 in 

 Northern Chile, I saw several brown-coloured hawks, which at the time appeared 

 new to me, but of which I did not procure a specimen. These I have no doubt 

 were the A. megaloptera of Meyen. In the British Museum there is a specimen, 

 brought from Chile by Mr. Crawley. Mr. G. R. Gray suspects that this bird 

 may eventually prove to be the young of the Phalcobcenus montanus of 

 D'Orbigny, and as I saw that bird (or another species having a close general re- 

 semblance with it) in the valleys of Northern Chile, although not in the immediate 

 vicinity, this supposition is by no means improbable. Meyen's figure at first sight 

 appears very different from that of the young of the P. montanus, given by M. 

 D'Orbigny, for in the latter the feathers over nearly the whole body are more dis- 

 tinctly bordered with a pale rufous shade, the thighs barred with the same, and the 

 general tint is of a much redder brown. But with the exception of these differences, 

 which are only in degree, I can find in M. D'Orbigny's description no other 

 distinguishing character, whilst on the other hand, there are numerous points of 

 close resemblance between the two birds in the shadings, and even trifling marks 

 of their plumage. Meyen, moreover, in describing the habits of his species, says, 

 it frequents a region just below the limit of perpetual snow, and that it sometimes 

 soars at a great height like a condor. Those which I saw had the general 

 manners of a Polyborus or Milvago, and were flying from rock to rock amongst 

 the mountains at a considerable elevation, but far below the snow-line. In these 

 several respects, there is a close agreement with the habits of the P. montanus, 

 as described by M. D'Orbigny. I will only add that the specimen in the British 

 Museum appeared, independently of differences of plumage, distinct from the 31. 

 albogularis of Patagonia, from the thinness and greater prolongation of its beak, 

 and the slenderness of its tarsi. 



