Rid gw ay on a Tropical American Hawk. 209 
Guatemala which appears to me to be identical with the type of 
Buteo fuliginosus preserved at Norwich. This specimen agrees 
in dimensions with the female of B . brachyura but (like the type 
specimen of B. fuliginosus) is dark brown rather than black 
and has scarcely any white on the forehead, the type specimen 
having absolutely none. 
u Mr. Salvin and myself are now of opinion that these are 
only individual variations (seeing that the dimensions and form 
of the primaries agree) and that therefore Buteo fuliginosus 
should sink into a synonym of Buteola brachyura and should not 
be considered as a melanism of Buteo swainsoni A 
That this black form, for which Buteo fuliginosus appears to 
be the earliest name, is unquestionably referable to B. brachyurus 
does not, however, appear to be so easily demonstrable ; at least 
none of the authors whom I have been able to consult give suf- 
ficient reasons for taking this view of its status. I have examined 
altogether eleven examples of B . fuliginosus and four of normal 
B. brachyurus , the latter all adults, the former including both 
adults and young. Not one of the former indicated in the 
slightest degree, by any variation from the typical plumage, the 
probability of intergradation with true B. brachyurus , which, 
considering the number of specimens, seems strange if they were 
really the same species. It is a well-known fact that in the case 
of all the other North American Buteones which have a well- 
marked melanistic phase ( eg . Buteo borealis , B. swainsoni , 
and Archibuieo l ago pus sancti-j ohannis) , examples wholly 
black in plumage are comparatively rare , or altogether less 
numerous than those which simply tend toward this condition, 
the light normal and the completely melanistic extremes of plu- 
mage being connected by an unbroken series of variously inter- 
mediate specimens. In the eleven specimens of B. fuliginosus , 
however, we observe exactly the same uniformity of characters 
as in B. abbreviatus — a species which, so far as known, has 
no light-colored phase , while the differences distinguishing the 
young and old are exactly the same as in that species ! The four 
adult specimens of B. brachyurus are likewise very much alike, 
and I have never heard of any specimens of this species, except 
young birds, which possessed a mixed lower plumage. Taking 
these facts alone as my guide, I should not think of uniting the 
two forms, but assuming that Messrs. Gurney and Salvin, having 
