HARRIS'S BUZZARD. 99 



the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It poises itself awhile on spying its prey- 

 just beneath the surface of the water, glides or plunges headlong upon it, and 

 thus secures it at once, or experiences the same disappointment that Terns 

 themselves do on many occasions. It is true, however, that the Fishing 

 Hawk does not, Tern-like, secure its finny prey with its bill; but what of 

 that, if it plunges into the deep and seizes its quarry there? The Bird of 

 Washington which is also a fishing Eagle, glides over its prey, and seizes it 

 mostly in the manner exhibited by Gulls. The White-headed Eagle, which, 

 as I have told you before, also dives after fish on some occasions, and pursues 

 the smaller kinds in shallow water by wading after them, will also attack 

 birds and quadrupeds of various species, and thus may be looked upon as one 

 of the most singularly gifted of our diurnal birds of prey. 



The species now before you belongs to the group of what may be called 

 indolent or heavy-flying Hawks. The specimen from which I made my 

 drawing, was procured by a gentleman residing in Louisiana, who shot it 

 between Bayou Sara and Natchez. A label attached to one of its legs 

 authorizes me to say that it was a female; but I have received no information 

 respecting its habits; nor can I at present give you the name of the donor, 

 however anxious I am to compliment him upon the valuable addition he has 

 made to our Fauna, by thus enabling me to describe and portray it. I have 

 much pleasure in naming it after my friend Edward Harris, Esq., a gentle- 

 man who, independently of the aid which he has on many occasions afforded 

 me, in prosecuting my examination of our birds, merits this compliment as 

 an enthusiastic Ornithologist. 



Buteo Harrisii, Aud., Birds of America, pi. 392; Ornithol. Biog., vol. v. p. 30. 



Adult Female. 



Bill short, robust, as broad as high at the base, compressed toward the 

 end; upper mandible with its dorsal outline sloping a little at the base, then 

 decurved, the sides nearly flat, the edge with a slight festoon, the tip pro- 

 longed, trigonal, descending, acute; lower mandible with the angle rather 

 long and wide, the dorsal line convex, the edge decurved toward the end, 

 the tip obtuse. Nostrils rather large, ovate, oblong, oblique. 



Head large, ovate, flattened above, with the superciliary ridges projecting. 

 Neck of moderate length; body full. Feet of ordinary length, very robust; 

 tarsus strong, roundish, feathered anteriorly for somewhat more than a third, 

 and having thirteen scutella, covered behind with sixteen scutella, reticulated 

 on the sides and at the lower part; toes strong, of moderate length, the first 

 and second thickest, and nearly equal; the first with four, the second with 

 five, the third with eight, the fourth with six entire scutella, the parts 



Vol. I. 4 



