76 Notes on Mr. R. R. Sharpe’s Catalogue of Accipitres. 
and that the scapulars are crossed with concealed transverse 
bars of white and pale grey, some of which are also slightly 
tinged with rufous. 
The following are the comparative dimensions of the six 
specimens above described :— 
Wing from Culmen Middle 
carpal joint. Tail. Tarsus. from cere. toe, s. u. 
No. 1 . 16-7 6-8 3-4 IT 1-75 
No. 2 . 16-5 6*9 3*5 IT 1*7 
No. 3 . 16-8 7T 3 6 imperfect. 1-6 
No. 4 . 16-8 7T 3*4 IT 1*7 
No. 5 . 17*7 7T 3-4 IT 17 
No. 6 . 16-6 7T 3-6 IT 1*5 
Nos. 1 and 2 have been portrayed in the annexed plate 
(Plate III.), which will assist the reader in recognizing this 
interesting Buzzard. 
I believe that the first plumage of Buteo hypospodius is 
still undescribed, that Nos. 5 and 6 in the above list are in 
the second plumage, Nos. 2, 3, and 4 in the third plumage, 
and No. 1 in the fourth. I would further hazard a conjecture 
that the fourth plumage will prove to he attained by the males 
only, and that the third plumage will be found, though com¬ 
mon to both sexes, to be the final dress of the female. 
The five species to which I have just referred, Buteo erythro- 
notus, B. exsul, B. poliosomus, B. albicaudatus, and B. hypo¬ 
spodius, appear to me to form a natural group, for which the 
name of Tachytriorchis might, I think, be conveniently re¬ 
tained, and legitimately so, as it embraces the species B. al¬ 
bicaudatus, which was the only one originally included by 
Kaup under that subgeneric title. 
Nearly allied to this group, hut, I think, not properly to be 
included in it, is the curious Buteo galapagensis, for the re¬ 
ception of which Mr. Gould instituted his subgenus Craocirex. 
I have nothing to add to Mr. Sharpe's account of this 
species, except to remark that the sexes differ in size only, 
and not in coloration, that being a point to which Mr. Sharpe 
does not in this instance refer. 
[To be continued.] 
