286 AMERICAN BUZZARD, OR WHITE-BREASTED HAWK. 



AMERICAN BUZZARD, OR WHITE-BREASTED 

 HAWK. {Falco borealis f) 



PLATE LIL— Fig. 1. 



Lath. Syn. Sup. p. 31. — Ind. Orn. i. p. 18, No. 31. — Peale's Museum, No. 400. 



BUTEO BOREALIS.— Young of the yeae.— Bonaparte. 



Falco (sub-genus Buteo) borealis, Bonap. Synop. p. 32. 



It is with some doubt and hesitation that I introduce the 

 present as a distinct species from the preceding. In their size 

 and general aspect they resemble each other considerably ; yet 

 I have found both males and females among each ; and in 

 the present species I have sometimes found the ground colour 

 of the tail strongly tinged with ferruginous, and the bars of 

 dusky but slight ; while in the preceding, the tail is sometimes 

 wholly red brown, the single bar of black near the tip excepted ; 

 in other specimens evident remains of numerous other bars 

 are visible. In the meantime both are figured, and future 

 observations may throw more light on the matter. 



This bird is more numerous than the last, but frequents 

 the same situations in winter. One, which was shot on the 

 win?:, lived with me several weeks, but refused to eat. It 

 amused itself by frequently hopping from one end of the room 

 to the other, and sitting for hours at the window looking 

 down on the passengers below. At first, when approached by 

 any person, he generally put himself in the position in which 

 he is represented ; but after some time he became quite familiar, 

 permitting himself to be handled, and shutting his eyes, as if 

 quite passive. Though he lived so long without food, he was 

 found on dissection to be exceedingly fat, his stomach being 

 enveloped in a mass of solid fat of nearly an inch in thickness. 



The white-breasted hawk is twenty-two inches long, and 

 four feet in extent ; cere, pale green ; bill, pale blue, black 

 at the point ; eye, bright straw colour ; eyebrow, projecting 

 greatly ; head, broad, flat, and large ; upper part of the head, 

 sides of the neck, and back, brown, streaked and seamed with 



