ORNITHOLOGY. 



is crossed by whitish lines ; in F. thoraclcus the tail is marked with five 

 equidistant bars of white, the most remote of which towards the tip, is 

 no greater distance from it than the bands are from each other : m 

 F. aurantius the tail is crossed by narrow bars of white, but only 

 from the base as far down as the middle. The legs in our bird are 

 yellow, and the claws short : in F. aurantius the legs are lead-colour- 

 ed, they resemble those of the Sparrow- Hawk, but are more long 

 and slender, and have the toes and claws longer in proportion. 



Dr. Latham has subsequently described two supposed varieties 

 of this species in his Synopsis, and in his Index Ornithologicus ; both 

 these accord very nearly in size with our bird, while, however, in some 

 particulars, they are more remote from it than that first mentioned. 

 The first of these /3 is ten inches long, the streaks across the back, not 

 very conspicuous, the chin white, and the throat orange ; in the other, 

 y, the upper parts are brown barred with blueish : the lower belly, 

 with the thighs and vent rufous, and the legs orange. 



Whether the two last-mentioned birds ought really to be con- 

 sidered as varieties of the first, or as specifically distinct, may possibly 

 admit of some doubt ; if varieties, they may be perhaps considered 

 as the younger birds that have not yet attained the full plumage of 

 the adult, and this may seem to be in some degree confirmed by their 

 habitats, being all inhabitants of South America; the first of Surinam, 

 the two last of Cayenne. There is, as before observed, a general 

 resemblance between these presumed varieties and our present bird, 

 but the differences we have pointed out appear to us sufficiently 

 decisive of its distinctness as a species, notwithstanding its simihtude. 



