m 
as 
FALCONIDiE — THE FALCONS. 
133 
shorter than seventh and longer than sixth. Wing, 10.60-12.30; tail, 
6.00-7.00; culraen, .60-65; tarsus, 1.30-1.55; middle toe, 1.00-1.10. 
Hob. Prairies and savannas of the southern United States and Northern 
Mexico, from Wisconsin and Georgia to Mirador. {Mississippi Kite.) 
Genus ROSTRHAMUS, Lesson. (Page 124.) 
Adult. Prevailing color plumbeous-black, or bluish-plumbeous; the tail and 
primaries black. Entirely concolored, or with white tail-coverts. Cere and feet 
orange-red. Young. Spotted with blackish-brown and ©chraceous, the former 
[prevailing above, the latter beneath. 
R. sociabilis. Tail-coverts, with terminal and basal zones of the tail, 
V white; that of the tail more or less shaded with grayish-brown. Adult. 
' Uniform blackish-plumbeous, darker on the head, quills, and tail. Plum- 
beous of a glaucous cast, the head dark plumbeous, and the wing-coverts 
lighter, inclining to grayish-brown. Wing, 13.26- 15.50; tail, 6.75-8.25; 
bill, .85- 1.04; tarsus, 1.70-2.40; middle toe, 1.40-1.55. Hob. Florida 
and West Indies. {Everglade Kite.) var. plumbeus. 
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Genus CIRCUS, Lacepede. (Page 124.) 
C. cyaneus. Adult male. Above pearly-ash, with a bluish cast in some 
parts; breast similar; beneath white, with or without rufous markings. 
Adult female. Above brown, variegated with ochraceous on the scapulars 
and wing-coverts ; beneath yellowish-white or pale ochraceous, with a few 
longitudinal stripes of brown. Young (of both sexes). Like the adult 
female, but darker brown above, the spotting deeper ochraceous, or rufous ; 
beneath pale rufous, the stripes more distinct. 
Tail and secondaries with a subterminal band of dusky ; lower parts 
with rufous markings. Wing, 12.90 - 16.00 ; tail, 9.00 - 10.50 ; culmen, 
.65- .75; tarsus, 2.90-3.25; middle toe, 1.20- 1.55. Lower parts with 
scattered irregular specks, or small cordate spots, of reddish-rufous. 
Hab. North and Middle America. {Marsh-Hawk.) . var .hudsonius. 
Genus NISUS, Cuvier. (Page 124.) 
Less than one third of the upper portion of the tarsus feathered in front, 
the feathering -widely separated behind ; frontal transverse scutelke of the 
tarsus and toes uninterrupted in the neighborhood of the digito-tarsal joint, 
but continuous from knees to claws. Tarsal scutelke sometimes fused into 
a continuous plate 
More than one third (about one half) of the upper portion of the tarsus 
feathered in front, the feathering scarcely separated behind ; frontal trans- 
verse scutelke of the tarsus and toes interrupted ‘in the region of the digito- 
tarsal joint, where replaced by irregular small scales. Tarsal scutelke never 
fused 
Nisus. 
Astur. 
