94 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



succession of plumages sufficient to justify the conclusion which the 

 distinguished ornithologists, above referred to, have adopted. At 

 present, we can only consider it as difierent from any other species 

 known to ns, though probably our specimens are in young plumage. 



Mr. Peale observes with reference to the bird now before us : " On 

 the Rio Negro, Patagonia, this species is common. We saw it near 

 the mouth of the river, sitting on the pinnacles of bare sand-hills or 

 on low bushes (that part of Patagonia being destitute of trees), watch- 

 ing for small birds and lizards, on which they feed. We saw them 

 again at Orange Bay and near Valparaiso." 



2. BUTEO VENTRALIS, GouJd. 

 Biiteo ventrah's, GouLD, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1837, p. 10. 



Atlas, Ornithology, Plate III, fig. 2. 



Form:. — Wing moderate or rather long, with the fourth quill slightly 

 longest; tertiaries much longer than the secondaries; tail moderate; 

 tarsi rather short, robust, and with the toes very distinctly scaled. 

 Bill rather short and weak. General form robust and strong. 



Dimensions. — Total length (of skin), from tip of bill to end of tail, 

 about twenty-two inches ; wing sixteen and a half inches ; tail ten 

 inches ; tarsus about three inches. 



Colors. — Throat and other under parts pale yellowish-white; many 

 of tlie feathers, especially on the throat and sides of the breast, with 

 longitudinal stripes of brown, most numerous and widest on the latter. 

 A wide band across the abdominal region, composed of longitudinal and 

 transverse marks on every feather, light brownish-ferruginous; thighs 

 and under tail-coverts with transverse bands of a paler shade of the 

 same color, but nearly obsolete on the latter. 



Head above, back, rump, and coverts of the wings dark sepia-brown; 

 many feathers tipped and edged with rufous, especially on the head, 

 neck, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts, at their bases, with bars 

 and rounded spots of white. Quills brown, with transverse bars of a 

 deeper shade of the same color, and tinged with cinereous on their 



