NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
5 
Speaking of primaries, Audubon says, “ A greater part of 
the inner web, with the shaft white * ^ ^ ^ the white of 
the inner webs of the primaries forms a conspicuous patch, con- 
trasted with the grayish-black of their terminal portion.” This 
is a remarkable feature not noticeable in Swainson’s. Audu- 
bon’s bird had the “lower wing-coverts white barred with dus- 
ky.” Swainson’s has rufous under wing-coverts. 
The above are the principal differences, and together with 
Audubon’s fine plate, which is a perfect facsimile of my bird, 
give a most emphatic contradiction to all assertions that Audu- 
bon was unable to distinguish the difference between Buteo vul- 
garis and what to him would have been a new bird. This noted 
ornithologist was constantly on tlie lookout for new species with 
which to embellish his book, and it is extremely improbable 
that he would have let such an opportunity escape him. 
The descriptive points given are enough to separate Audu- 
bon’s bird from all others, but as if to give more weight to his 
testimony we find him saying as a final to his article : “ When 
compared with European specimens, mine have the bill somewhat 
stronger ; but in all other respects, including the scutella and 
scales of the feet and toes, and the structure of the wings and 
tail, the parts are similar.” 
It will be noticed that he uses the plural “ mine,” for before 
this was appended he had received another, also shot by Dr. 
Townsend, on the plains of the Snake River. 
Swainson and Richardson, in “ Fauna Boreali Americana,” 
Vol. II, page 47, also make mention of a species under the name 
of Buteo vulgaris., and give a figure of the same. They were, 
liowever, without doubt mistaken in their identification, the 
bird which they had being really Buteo Swainsoni, as both 
description and figure clearly indicate. Reverting once more to 
Audubon, I will answer a query which will arise in almost 
every one’s mind, viz : — How was it that Aubudon did not find 
the common B. Swainsoni, and yet have specimens of the rarer 
vulgaris pass through his hands? 
First — The country inhabited by this Hawk (Swainson’s) was 
comparatively unknown at that time, and consequently not much 
traversed by naturalists. 
Second — Audubon never noticed some of our most common 
species, while he discovered and described many rare ones that 
were closely allied to them. Notably among these was the 
