A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3

List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 14; Bost. Soc., 3; Philad., 1; G. N. Lawrence, 4; R. Ridgway, 1. Total, 23.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 6.90–7.10; tail, 4.80–5.10; culmen, .50; tarsus, 1.45–1.48; middle toe, .90. Specimens, 4. ♀. Wing, 7.00–7.50; tail, 5.00–5.15; culmen, .50; tarsus, 1.35–1.40; middle toe, .88–.90. Specimens, 3.

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Falco sparverius, var. australis. Falco gracilis (not of Lesson!), Swains. An. Menag. p. 281, 1838. Falco sparverius (not of Linnæus!), Tschudi, Faun. Per. An. p. 110. Tinnunculus sparverius (not of Vieillot!), Darw. Zoöl. Beag. pt. iii, 29. Bidens sparverius, Spix, Av. Bras. I, 16. Bidens dominicensis (not F. dominicensis of Gmelin!), Spix, Av. Bras. I, 16. Tinnunculus dominicensis, Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 100, 1855 (in part). T. sparverius, var. australis, Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Phil. Dec. 1870, 149.

Hab. Most of continental South America, except the North Atlantic and the Caribbean coasts, where replaced by the var. isabellinus. In Chile and Western Brazil, mixed with, but not replaced by, var. ? cinnamominus.

Adult ♂ (20,937, Parana; Coll. of the U. S. Paraguay Exp.). Similar to var. sparverius. Head above with the rufous entirely wanting; rufous of the plumage more vinaceous; black bars of the scapulars almost transversely cordate, and nearer the end of the feather; black zone of the tail only .60 of an inch wide. Beneath continuously white, with elliptical spots or streaks of pure black on sides, becoming somewhat circular on the flanks. Wing, 7.70; tail, 5.30; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .92; culmen, .48. In all respects, except the points described, resembling the true sparverius of North America, of which it is nothing more than a geographical race, and a not very strongly marked one, though the differences indicated are very constant.

♀ (50,942, Brazil; Sr. Don Fred. Albuquerque). Very similar to sparverius; the rufous, equally pale, is, however, more vinaceous; the tail decidedly less rufescent. The black bars are about the same, but on the tail there are thirteen, and the subterminal one is scarcely broader than the rest; the lateral tail-feather has the bars only on inner web, and here almost wanting. Head above as in the male, being without the rufous tinge on the vertex. Beneath yellowish-white, about like sparverius; the whole breast and side with numerous longitudinal dashes of deep brown, similar in form to sparverius, but of much deeper tint. Inner web of longest primary with twelve transverse bars of white, these scarcely exceeding the dusky ones. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4–1. Wing, 7.80; tail, 5.20; tarsus, 1.30; middle toe, .95; culmen, .55.

Juv. ♂ (16,570, Bogota; W. Evans). Differing from the adult in deeper rufous and broader black bars; those on the tail twelve in number, more than doubling in width those of the adult; markings beneath more blended, darker brown. Differs from young of var. sparverius in much lighter rufous above; less purely black bars; entire absence of rufous on crown, and narrower shaft-streaks here; less ochraceous-white beneath, and less blended markings.

List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 16; Bost. Soc., 3; Philad. Acad., 16; N. Y. Mus., 4; Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 2; R. Ridgway, 1. Total, 42.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 6.80–7.90; tail, 4.75–5.90; culmen, .48–.50; tarsus, 1.40–1.50; middle toe, .90–1.00. Specimens, 17. ♀. Wing, 7.20–8.15; tail, 5.10–5.80; culmen, .48–.52; tarsus, 1.20–1.52; middle toe, .90. Specimens, 25.

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Falco sparverius, var. dominicensis. Accipiter (Æsalon) dominicensis, Brisson, Orn. I, 389, pl. xxxii. f. 2, 1760. Falco dominicensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. p. 285, 1789. Tinnunculus dominicensis, Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 100, 1855 (in part only). Tinnunculus sparverius, var. dominicensis, Ridgway, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. Dec. 1870, 149.

Hab. Lesser Antilles north to Porto Rico and St. Thomas.

Adult ♂ (52,428, St. Bartholemi; Professor Sundevall). Resembling var. isabellinus in general appearance, but darker, and more heavily barred above; beneath much more spotted. Head above with blackish shaft-streaks and vertex with a patch of rufous; this, however, somewhat restricted. Rufous above, with numerous broad bars of black, these running continuously across and extending anteriorly to the neck; rump even, with a few very small, transversely sagittate specks of the same. Tail crossed by nine perfectly regular and sharply defined narrow bands of pure black, anterior to the subterminal zone, which is about .80 of an inch wide; outer feather white, tinged medially with rufous, barred with black to the base. Black spotting in dark cinereous of the wing very exaggerated in comparison with var. sparverius. Markings beneath very numerous, the sides being thickly marked with large cordate or nearly circular spots of black, these growing larger toward the flanks. The rufous of the breast is about as in var. isabellinus. Wing, 6.80; tail, 5.10; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .94; culmen, .53. Wing-formula, 3–2–4, 5, 6–1.

♀ (52,429, St. Bartholemi; Professor Sundevall). Black bands above exceeding in breadth the rufous ones; each feather of the head above with a sharp medial streak of black. Tail with twelve bands of black; outer feather approaching white. Markings beneath pure black, as in the male; their course longitudinal anteriorly, on the sides more circular, transverse on the flanks. Wing, 6.70; tail, 5.00; tarsus, 1.30; middle toe, 1.00; culmen, .53. Wing-formula, 3, 2–4–1, 5.

The male selected for the type is an extreme example; no others have the character of the variety presented in a degree as exaggerated as this specimen. Nos. 362 (♂) and 170 (♀) of the Bryant Collection from Porto Rico, and No. 36,554 (♂, St. Thomas; Robert Swift), may be taken as more perfect, or rather as average representatives of the variety. These two males are almost exactly similar. They have the back as strongly barred as in the type, and the black spots on the rump are as noticeable; but the tail, instead of being crossed by regular, perfectly continuous, sharply defined bands, has these broader and more broken, being indicated only by spots along the edge; they also decrease in width toward the base. The Porto Rico specimen has very much ashy-white between the two last black bars, this being found on the four lateral feathers; between the next two, on three feathers, etc. The other specimen, however, is destitute of this ashy-white, although the outer web of the lateral feather is pure white,—spotted, however, with black. In the Porto Rico specimen the breast is as deeply ochraceous as in the isabellinus style; but the spots are larger and more numerous even than in any examples of sparverius. A female from here differs from the type only in a few unimportant points, the principal difference being in the markings beneath. In this there is a general ochraceous wash on the lower parts, the markings linear only on the breast, becoming tear-shaped and circular on the sides, and transverse on the flanks; the red patch on the crown is quite extensive. In the whole series the third quill is longest, and the bill is, in all, considerably longer than in any specimen of sparverius excepting those from Florida. Another female from St. Thomas (36,551; Robert Swift) is almost exactly like the one from Porto Rico; the rufous of the crown covers nearly the whole top of the head, and is quite bright. In a series of skins belonging to Mr. Newton, deposited in the S. I. Collection, we find a pair of this variety from the island of St. Croix, W. I. They are perfectly typical examples. The male (“May 2, 1857, B. B.”) has the large black spots of the side transversely cordate; the bands on the tail are broken into spots on edges of the feathers; the female (“s. p. 227, B. 6”) is in nearly all respects like the specimen described.

List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 7; Bost. Soc., 3; A. Newton, 2. Total, 10.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 6.20–6.80; tail, 4.50–5.50; culmen, .45–.55; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, .95. Specimens, 5. ♀. Wing, 6.80–7.10; tail, 5.50–5.75; culmen, .55; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, 1.05. Specimens, 5.

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Falco sparverius, var. cinnamominus. Falco cinnamominus, Swainson, An. Menag. p. 281, 1838. Pœcilornis cinnamominus, Kaup, Monog. Falc. Cont. Orn. 1850, p. 53 (under P. sparverius). Tinnunculus cinnamomeus, Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 11, 1844; List B. Brit. Mus. p. 62.—Bonap. Consp. Av. p. 27.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 100, 1855. Tinnunculus (sparverius var.?) cinnamominus, Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Phil. Dec. 1870, 149.

Hab. Chile and Western Brazil.

Adult ♂ (48,821, Valdivia, Chile, January, 1864; Nat. Mus. of Chile, Dr. Philippi, Dir.). Somewhat like var. australis; in fact, resembling this in general appearance. Head above, however, very dark dull plumbeous, with very distinct shaft-streaks of black. Back and scapulars sparsely barred with black, the bars broadest posteriorly. Tail much brighter rufous than the back; continuous rufous to the extreme tip; a very narrow subterminal band of black, .30 of an inch wide, crossing about .55 of an inch from the tip, making the terminal deep rufous, nearly twice as wide as the black; toward the outer feathers the black is thrown into a spot on each web, scarcely touching the shaft; on the lateral feather the black is lacking entirely, the inner web being continuous rufous, the outer paler, inclining to ochraceous-white. Primaries conspicuously white terminally; inner webs white, with transverse bars of dusky; there being on the longest (second) ten spaces of white, these more than twice the width of the dusky bars; lining of the wing creamy-white, with minute streaks of black sparsely distributed. Forehead more hoary than the crown; lores white. Ear-coverts, neck, and entire lower parts, continuous dull white; breast with a few minute black streaks; flanks with more expanded tear-shaped dashes of the same. The “mustache” is very conspicuous, as are also the oral, cervical, and nuchal markings. Wing-formula, 2=3–1, 4. Wing, 7.40; tail, 5.15; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .95; culmen, .50. No. 50,944 (Brazil; Sr. Don Fred. Albuquerque) is exactly similar.

List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 2.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 7.40–7.70; tail, 5.50; culmen, .50; tarsus, 1.40–1.42; middle toe, .95. Specimens, 2.

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Polyborus tharus. Falco tharus, Molina, Sp. Chil. p. 264, 343; 1782. Polyborus tharus, Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 19, 1855. Falco cheriway, Jacq. Beyträg. p. 17, pl. iv, 1784. Polyborus cheriway, Rich. Schomb. Vers. Faun. Brit. Guiana, p. 741, 1840. Falco plancus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 257, 1789. Falco brasiliensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 262, 1789 (et Auct.). Polyborus brasiliensis, Vig. Zoöl. Journ. I, 320, 1824. Caracara vulgaris, Less. Tr. Orn. p. 34; 1831. Polyborus vulgaris, Spix. Av. Bras. I, pl. i, a.

Adult male (21,850, South America; T. R. Peale). Forehead, crown, occiput, and wings brownish-black; middle wing-coverts fainter, with obscure whitish bars; primaries white in the middle (just beyond the coverts), this portion having obsolete washes of grayish, in form of faintly indicated transverse bars; basal three-fourths of the tail white, with numerous narrow, washed bars of grayish, these becoming more faint toward the base; tail with a terminal zone of black, about two inches broad. Cheeks, chin, and throat soiled white, unvaried; body in general (including neck, breast, sides, abdomen, back, and scapulars) transversely barred with black and white, the white prevailing anteriorly; beneath, the black bars grow gradually wider posteriorly, giving the tibiæ and femorals a uniformly blackish appearance; on the back and scapulars also the black bars exceed the white in width, but they are very sharply defined, regular, and continuous; rump, upper and lower tail-coverts, white, with numerous faint bars of grayish. Under side of the wing black; outer six primaries white in the middle portion, beyond the coverts, this patch extending obliquely across; secondaries rather broadly barred on basal two-thirds with black and white, leaving the terminal third unvaried. Third quill longest; fourth scarcely shorter; second intermediate between fifth and sixth; first a little longer than seventh. Wing, 16.00; tail, 6.50; tarsus, 3.50; middle toe, 1.75.

Young (13,923, South America; T. R. Peale). Forehead, crown, occiput, nape, back, wings, and lower parts dark sepia-brown; feathers of the breast, sides, and abdomen marked centrally with a broad longitudinal stripe of soiled fulvous-white; those of nape and back more obsoletely striped, and variegated irregularly at ends with the same; wing-coverts passing terminally into pale brownish; secondaries obscurely barred with the same. Cheeks, chin, and throat unvariegated soiled white; tibial feathers with shaft-stripes of pale fulvous. Rump, tail-coverts, and tail as in adult. Several specimens from Buenos Ayres (Conchitas; Wm. H. Hudson), and one from Paraguay (59,236; T. J. Page, U. S. N.), have the black of the lower part of the abdomen and flanks quite continuous. There is never, however, in South American specimens, an approach to the peculiar characters of auduboni, as defined.

List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 7; Bost. Soc., 4; Philad. Acad., 3; N. Y. Mus., 3. Total, 17.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 16.00–17.20; tail, 10.00–11.00; culmen, 1.20–1.30; tarsus, 3.70–3.90; middle toe, 1.75–2.15. Specimens, 2. ♀. Wing, 17.70; tail, 10.00; culmen, 1.41; tarsus, 4.20; middle toe, 2.30. Specimens, 1. Sex? Wing, 15.50; tail, 10.00; culmen, 1.30; tarsus, 3.65; middle toe, 1.90. Smallest of 4.

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Pandion haliætus, var. haliætus (Linn.). Aquila haliætus, Briss. Orn. I, 440, pl. xxxiv. Falco haliætus, Linn. S. N. I, 1766, 129. Pandion haliætus, Less. Man. Orn. I, 86. Falco arundinaceus, Gmel. 1733. Pandion fluvialis, Savign. Descr. Egyp. I, 96, 1809. Pandion alticeps and planiceps, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl. 33, 1831. Pandion indicus, Hodgs. Cat. Gray’s Misc. 81.

Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 3; Bost. Soc., 2; Philad. Acad., 3; other sources, 10. Total, 18.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 18.00–18.50; tail, 8.50–8.70; culmen, 1.20–1.30; tarsus, 1.95–2.00; middle toe, 1.50–1.80. Specimens, 4. ♀. Wing, 19.50–20.50; tail, 9.00–9.50; culmen, 1.35–1.45; tarsus, 2.00–2.10; middle toe, 1.85–1.90. Specimens, 4.

Five specimens from the Palæarctic Region (including one from Japan and one from Morocco) compare with three from India as follows:—

Palæarctic specimens: Wing, 18.70–20.40; tail, 9.00–10.00; culmen, 1.28–1.35; tarsus, 2.15; middle toe, 1.75–1.80.

Indian specimens: Wing, 17.00–19.75; tail, 7.00–8.75; culmen, 1.28–1.35; tarsus, 2.00; middle toe, 1.75.

The Indian specimens are slightly darker than the northern ones. In the northern series, the smallest is one from Morocco. This has the breast as white as any Australian example, and has the head and neck above as light as in many of them. The Japanese specimen is exactly like European ones in color, but is intermediate between them and the Indian ones in size, measuring, wing, 17.50; tail, 8.80; culmen, 1.30; tarsus, 2.15; middle toe, 1.60. The smallest in the series is one from Celebes, in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Cambridge (No. 12,196). This one measures, wing, 15.20; tail, 7.50; culmen, 1.20; tarsus, 2.00; and middle toe, 1.60. In colors it approaches very closely to var. leucocephalus.

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Pandion haliætus, var. leucocephalus (Gould). Pandion fluviatilis, var. 1, Less. Tr. Orn. 1831, 46. Pandion leucocephalus, Gould, Synop. B. Austr. I, 1832, 22, pl. vi. Pandion gouldi, Kaup, Isis, 1847. Specimens examined.—Philad. Acad., 8 (Gould’s types); Boston Soc., 1. Total, 9.

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McGillivray describes this plumage as that of the young, and states that the sexes are colored alike; but my observations upon freshly killed specimens, as well as skins, induce me to believe that the sexes are differently colored in their adult plumage, as described above, and the young are not different from the adults. I may be mistaken in adopting this view, but a male killed by myself, in the white-bordered plumage, had scarlet irides and other unmistakable characteristics of perfect maturity.

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Elanus leucurus, var. axillaris (Latham). Falco axillaris, Lath.—N. S. Wales, Draw. I. No. 49, 1801. Circus axillaris, Vieill. N. D. IV, 453. Elanus axillaris, Gray, Ann. N. H. XI, 189.—Ib. Hand List, I, 28, No. 261. Elanus notatus, Gould, B. Aust. I, pl. xxiii.

Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 3; Boston Soc., 1.

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Elanus leucurus, var. scriptus (Gould). Elanus scriptus, Gould, P. Z. S. pl. x, 1842, 80.—Bonap. Consp. 22.—Kaup, Monog. Falc. in Jardine’s Coutr. Orn. 1850, 60.—Gray, Hand List, I, 28, No. 262.

Specimens examined.—Mus. Comp. Zoöl., Cambridge, 1.

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Elanus cæruleus, var. cæruleus (Desfontaines). Falco cæruleus, Desfont. Mém. Ac. Sc. 1787, 503, pl. xv. Elanus cæruleus, Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 137. Falco melanopterus, Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 1800, 152. Elanus melanopterus, Leach, Zoöl. Misc. pl. cxxii.—Gould, B. Eur. pl. xxxi.—Gray, Hand List, I, 28, No. 258. Falco clamosus, Shaw, Zoöl. VII, 200. Elanus cæsius, Savig. Descr. Egyp. pt. i, p. 98. Elanoides cæsius, Vieill. Enc. Méth. III, 1206.

Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 2 (Southern Europe).

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Elanus cæruleus, var. minor (Bonap.). Falco vociferus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1790, 16. ? Falco sonninensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. 1801, 12. Elanus minor, Bonap. Consp. 1850, p. 22.—Gray, Hand List, I, 28, No. 259.

Specimens examined.—Am. Mus., N. Y., 4 (2 India, 2 Africa); Boston Soc., 4 (3 Juv.); Mus. Comp. Zoöl., Cambridge, 2. Total, 10.

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Ictinia plumbea (Gmel.). Falco plumbeus, Gmel. S. N. 1789, 283. Ictinia plumbea, Vieill. 1816, 24.—Gray, Hand List, I. Nertus plumbeus, Boie, Isis, 1828, 314. Pœcilopteryx plumbeus, Kaup, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck. 1845, 258. Milvus cenchris, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. 1807, pl. x. Buteo cenchris, Cuv. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 1829, 337.

Specimens examined.—National Museum, 4; Philadelphia Academy, 4; New York Museum, 4; Boston Society, 4; Museum Comp. Zoöl., 1; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 2; Coll. R. Ridgway, 1. Total, 20.

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Rostrhamus sociabilis, var. sociabilis (Vieill.). Herpetotheres sociabilis, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. XVIII, 318, 1818; Enc. Méth. III, 1248. Rostrhamus sociabilis, D’Orb. Voy. Am. Merid. II. 73, 1835; Synop. Av. Mag. Zoöl. 1850. Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. p. 47; Gen. and Subgen. Brit. Mus. p. 6.—Kaup, Monog. Falc. Cont. Orn. 1850, 78.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 136, 1855. Falco rostrhamus, Max. Beiträg. III. 182, 1830. Cymindis leucopygus, Spix, Av. Bras. I, 7, pl. ii, 1824. Rostrhamus niger, Less. Tr. Orn. p. 56, 1831.

Hab. South and Middle America, from Buenos Ayres to Eastern Mexico (Mirador).

Localities: Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 220); Ecuador (Sclater, 1860, 289); Panama (Lawrence, VII, 1861, 316); La Plata (Burmeister, II, 1861, 435); Brazil (Pelz. Orn. Bras. I, 6); Buenos Ayres (Scl. & Salv. 1869, 160).

The numerous South American specimens which have come under my notice all differ in the respects pointed out in the synopsis from West Indian and Floridan examples. The following descriptions of a pair of the southern race will show the average characters of var. sociabilis.

Adult male (Baranquilla, Ecuador, Crowther; Coll. G. N. Lawrence). Differing from the Florida male in being much darker; general color plumbeous-black, instead of glaucous-plumbeous; head, wings, and tail deep black. Wing-formula, 3=4, 5–2, 6–7, 1. Wing, 12.90; tail, 7.80; culmen, 1.05; tarsus, 1.65; middle toe, 1.45; hind toe, .80; its claw, 1.10.

Adult female, with traces of immature plumage (53,081, Conchitas, Buenos Ayres, September, 1867; William H. Hudson). Whole plumage (except tail-coverts) brownish-black, deepest black on head and tail; more brownish on wing-coverts and slightly glaucous on the neck. All the feathers, except those of the head, neck, and back, bordered inconspicuously with paler; these edgings more distinct and rufescent on the lesser wing-coverts; tibiæ tinged with rusty. Wing-formula, 3=4, 5–2–6–7, 1. Wing, 14.00; tail, 7.60; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.60; hind toe, .95; its claw, 1.20.

A specimen from Mexico, supposed to be from Mirador (No. 44,444), is dark in color, like South American examples; the bill is unusually large, the chord of the culmen measuring 1.25; wing, 14.25; tail, 8.30; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.65.

Specimens examined.—National Museum, 2; Philadelphia Academy, 7; New York Museum, 2; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 2; Museum, Cambridge, 1; Boston Society, 3. Total, 17.

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Rostrhamus hamatus (Vieill.). Falco hamatus, Temm. Pl. Col. 61, 231, 1899.—Illig. Mus. Berol. Buteo hamatus, Vieill. Enc. Méth. III, 1223. Rostrhamus tæniurus, Cab. J. für. Orn. 1854, p. lxxx. No. 16,634 (Amazon River; Lieutenant Herndon). Entirely uniform plumbeous, with a glaucous cast, becoming darker on the head, and black on primaries and tail; tail perfectly even, with an obscurely indicated, narrow, interrupted band of dark plumbeous across its middle portion. A specimen in the collection of the Boston Society has the bands on the tail more conspicuous, and agrees with the R. tæniurus of Cabanis. I have seen no young specimens of this species, but, judging from Temminck’s figure, cited above, they are very similar to the same stage of R. sociabilis.

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The females and immature males are hard to distinguish, and from the unsatisfactory character of the material at my command I have not succeeded in finding reliable characters by which these plumages of the three races may be distinguished. Consequently I give only the characters of the adult males, in defining the distinctions between them.

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Circus cyaneus, var. cyaneus (Linn.). Falco cyaneus, Linn. S. N. 1766, 126. Circus cyaneus, Less. Man. Orn. I, 105.—Gould, B. Europe, pl. xxxiii.—Bonap. List, 22.—Degl. Orn. Eur. I, 74.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 147.—Gray, Hand List, I, 37, No. 364. Falco pygargus, Linn. S. N. 1766, 126. Circus pygargus, Steph. Zoöl. XIII, pl. ii, 41.

Specimens examined.—National Museum, 3; Philadelphia Academy, 4; New York Museum, 1; Boston Society, 5. Total, 13.

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Circus cyaneus, var. cinereus (Vieill.). Circus cinereus, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. H. N. IV, 1816, 454.—Darwin, Zoöl. Beag. pt. iii, 30.—D’Orb. Synop. Av. Mag. Zool. 1837.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 156.—Gray, Hand List, I, 37, No. 368. Circus campestris, Vieill. Enc. Méth. III, 1823, 1213. Circus frenatus, Licht. Verz. Doubl. 1823, p. 62. Circus histrionicus, Quoy, Zoöl. Journ. III, 1826, 271.

Specimens examined.—National Museum, 7; Philadelphia Academy, 5; Boston Society, 3; Museum Cambridge, 1; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 1. Total, 17.

Measurements.—♂. Wing, 12.40–13.25; tail, 8.50–9.00; culmen, .62–.63; tarsus, 2.42–2.60; middle toe, 1.20–1.25. Specimens, 11. ♀. Wing, 13.75–14.50; tail, 9.30–10.50; culmen, .75–.80; tarsus, 2.80–3.00; middle toe, 1.40–1.50. Specimens, 5.