AVIFAUNA OF LAYSA X, ETC. 



237 



54. BUTEO SOLITARIUS, Peak. 



10. 



(?) Brown Hawks or Kites, Cook, Voy. Pacif. Oc. ii. p. 227 (Atooi) (1784). 



Buteo solitarius, Peale, U.S. Expl. Exp, 13. p. 62, pi. xvl (1848) ; Hartl. Arch. f. Naturg. 1852, i. p. 131 ; 

 Scl. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 348 (Owhyhee) j id. Ibis, 1879, p. 92 ; id. Rep. Voy. ' Challenger/ B. p. 90, pi. xxi. 

 (1881) ; Gurney, LUt Diurn. 13. Prey, p. 64 (1884) ; Wilson & Evans, Aves Kawaiiens. pt. ii, 3 plates 

 & text (1891). 



Pandion solitarius, Cass. U.S. Expl. Exp, Mamm. & Orn. p. 97, Atlas, pi. iv. (Hawaii, type in Mus. Acad. 

 Philadelphia) (1838); Dole, Proc. 13ost. Soe. N. H. 1809, p. 295 (Hawaii, Niihau & Molokai) ; id. 

 Hawaiian Almanac, 1879, p. 42. 



Pandion (Polioaetus) .solitarius, Gray, Cat. 13. Trop. Is. p. 1 (1859) ; id. Hand-1. i. p. 15 (18G9). 



Onychotis gruberi, Ridgw. Proc. Ac. Philad. 1870, p. 149, id. Rep. U.S. Geol. & Geogr. Surv. 1876, p. 135; 

 Baird, Brewer, & Ridgw. Hist. N. Amer. B. iii. p. 254 (1874) (woodcut & descr. specimen supposed to 

 be from California?) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 158 (1874) (footnote); Gurney, Ibis, 1876, p. 476; id. Ibis, 

 1881, p. 396, pi. xii. (spelt O. yrueberi) ; id. List Diurn. B. Prey, V- 71 (1884). 



Polioaetus solitarius, Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 452 (1874). 



Onychotes solitarius, Ridgw. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1885, p. 38 (identity with O. gruberi demonstrated). 

 Buteo [Onychotes) solitarius, Gurney, Ibis, 1891, p. 21. 



Size small ; bill long and pointed, strongly curved. Nostril rounded. Feet strong, claws 

 very powerful. Metatarsus feathered on its upper part for about one inch. Plumage 

 either of a deep hlackish brown or chocolate-brown all over, or brown above and whitish 

 barred or striped with brown on the underside, or below white with brown patches along 

 the sides, or uniform buff or whitish. In all these plumages the quills have the inner 

 webs white towards the base and show indistinct black cross-bars; the tail is narrowly 

 barred with blackish brown, these bars being less distinct in the darkest individuals. 



The late Mr. Gurney sen. (I. c.) believed that the birds with uniform rusty-buff undersides 

 were in their first plumage, while those which were more or less barred or striped were 

 adult or nearly adult, and the black ones were "melanistic specimens." The fact 

 that he adds "normal" in brackets to his descriptions indicates that he considered 

 " melanistic specimens " as probably occurring in young birds as well. I am unable 

 to see why the hirds with more or less uniform undersides should be young, as the 

 specimens of this Hawk show the same individual variations which are known to occur 

 in Buteo buteo, Buteo galapagensis, and in other species of the genus, in which they 

 clearly represent different permanent " phases," but not stages of age. Palmer sent me 



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