































232 Mr. J. H. Gurney’s Notes on | 
very interesting specimen of this Buzzard in a state of change 
from the immature to the adult plumage, and also a specimen 
which they consider to be fully adult, as well as a young 
male. 
From a comparison of the two first-mentioned descriptions 
with that given of the adult by Mr. Sharpe, and with the 
specimen in the Norwich Museum already mentioned as the 
type of B. zonocercus, it would appear that-the mature birds 
of this species vary in some degree as regards the markings 
on the tail; and this probably indicates that the final adjust- 
ment of coloration on the rectrices is only very gradually 
attained in this, as in some other species of the genus Buteo. 
An immature specimen in the Norwich Museum agrees 
generally with Mr. Sharpe’s description of the type of B. 
albonotaius (now also recognized as a synonym of B. abbre- 
viatus), with the exception that the ground-colour of the 
plumage is dark brown instead of black as in the speci- 
men described by Mr. Sharpe. 
I now come to two North-American Buzzards that ap- 
pear to me to form a group, which (including a third local 
race not yet acknowledged as specifically distinct) is notable 
for peculiarities of marking and coloration, by which these 
birds, when in adult dress, are readily distinguishable from 
any other members of the genus Buteo. These are Buteo 
lineatus and Buteo elegans, the former being an inhabitant of 
the eastern regions of North America, from Texas to New 
Brunswick, the latter of the western from Mexico to Cali- 
fornia—both meeting in Texas during the winter months, 
according to the observations of Mr. Dresser recorded in ‘ The 
Ibis’ for 1865, p. 325. 
Mr. Sharpe merely gives B. elegans as a synonym of B. 
lineatus ; but to me it appears sufficiently distinct to be at 
least admitted as a good subspecies. 
Full descriptions of B. elegans in both its immature and 
adult dress will be found in the ‘ Birds of North America,’ by 
Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence, p. 28, and in the ‘ Land Birds 
of North America,’ by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, vol. iii. 
p.-277. The adult and immature of this species are figured 



