48 



FALCONID.E. 



Buzzard above brown-black sprinkled with white; beneath black, 

 with the forehead white ; the first five quills white within ; the 

 tail black, with five narrow white bands and a whitish tip. 



Falco niger^ or Black Hawk. Wih. Amer. Orn. vi. p, 82. 

 p^. 53./. 1.2. 



Inhabits North America. Length twenty-one 

 inches : beak bluish-black : cere, sides of the mouth, 

 and feet, orange yellow : irides bright hazel : plu- 

 mage above brown black, slightly dashed with white : 

 front white : nape white under the surface : all the 

 under parts black, slightly tinged with brown, and a 

 few circular touches of the same on the thighs : the 

 five first prime quills white on their inner webs : tail 

 rounded at the end, deep black, crossed with five 

 narrow white bands, and broadly tipped with dull 

 w^hite : vent black, spotted with white ; inside webs of 

 the primaries white : legs black, tinged with brownish : 

 claws black, strong, sharp : toes very short. 



A powerful species ; and feeds on mice, frogs, 

 moles, and ducks : it has been seen to kill the latter 

 on the wing. 



STIRPS v.— MILVINA (KITES) . 



Rostrum mediocre, a bast suhaduncum ; cauda/Mrc«f«. 



Beak mediocral, somewhat hooked from the base ; tail forked. 



GENUS XXIX.— ELANUS, Savigny. 



Rostrum mediocre, debile, 



compressum. 

 Tarsi breves, semiplumati ; 



acrotars'ia reticulata. 



Beak mediocral, weak, com- 

 pressed. 



Tarsi short, half-feathered ; 

 acrotarsia reticulated. 



