24 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
List of specimens. 
1 
Catalogue number. 
Sex and age. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Original number. 
Collected by— 
6955 
Medicine Bow creek, Nebraska .... 
July 26, 1856 
Lieut. Bryan_ 
333 
W. S. Wood. 
6871 
s 
Tulare vallev, California_ 
Lieut. Williamson... 
Dr. Heermann_ 
BUTEO HARLANI, Audubon. 
Harlan’s Buzzard; The Black Warrior. 
Falco Harlani, Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 441, (1831, plate published 1830.) 
“ Buteo Borealis,” Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. Aceipitres, p. 34. 
Buteo Harlani, Aud. Lawrence, Annals N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist. V, p. 220. 
Figure.—A ud. B. of Am., pi. 86, Oct. ed. I, pi. 8. 
Mult. —About the size of, or rather smaller than, Buteo borealis. Robust ; bill rather short, strong ; edges of upper mandible 
lobed ; wing rather long ; tail moderate ; legs strong ; tarsus feathered in front below the joint, naked behind, in front having 
about nine or ten transverse scales, and about fifteen behind ; claws very strong, sharp, fully curved. Entire plumage 
brownish black, with a purplish lustre on the back and wing coverts. Front white, and all the feathers of the head above and 
occiput white at base, easily observed on the latter. Quills brownish black, with transverse bands of a lighter shade, and with 
a portion of their inner webs ashy white, giving a nearly uniform ashy white color to the under surface of the wing ; under wing 
coverts brownish black. Tail mottled with brownish black, ashy and white, the former predominating, a rather wide subter¬ 
minal band of brownish black above and below, which are tinges of bright rufous ; tip paler ; under surface of the tail ashy 
white, slightly mottled with ashy brown. Bill dark bluish ; legs greenish yellow. 
Young. —Entire upper parts light brown, dull fulvous, and white ; tips of the feathers generally with a large ovoid spot of 
brown, bordered with dull fulvous, and white at base, the fulvous and white predominating on the head and wing coverts ; 
rump with nearly regular transverse bands of brown and reddish fulvous ; quills dark brown ; under surface (of quills) white ; 
under wing coverts white, spotted with brown, and rufous or reddish fulvous ; tail light ashy, tinged with reddish, and with 
about six or seven irregular and imperfect narrow bands of brownish black, all of which are edged with dark reddish fulvous ; 
tip white. Under parts white, nearly pure on the throat and breast, with ovate and sagittate large spots on the neck before 
sides and abdomen ; tibiae and under tail coverts with nearly regular bands of brown and pale reddish ; under surface of the tail 
ashy white. Bill dark bluish ; legs greenish yellow. 
Total length (adult) about 21 inches ; wing 16, tail 9)4 inches. 
In the collection brought by the surveying party under the command of Captain John Pope, 
United States army, are two specimens of the bird which we suppose to he Buteo Harlani. 
These were obtained near Fort Thorne, New Mexico, by T. Charlton Henry, M. D., United 
States army, and, with that described, as above cited, by Mr. George N. Lawrence, are the 
only ones yet detected within the limits of the United States. We have seen other specimens 
of the same species from Mexico. One of the present specimens, like that of Mr. Lawrence, is 
adult in black plumage ; the other is very probably the young, and in plumage totally different, 
as described above. 
This bird comes very near the description by Mr. Audubon in his Ornithological Biography, 
I, p. 441, and is the same species decided by Mr. Lawrence to be the Buteo Harlani of that 
author, and first announced by him as a species of western North America in the Annals of the 
New York Lyceum of Natural History, as above cited. In both size and colors, our present 
