Naturalists enumerate about ninety species of King-Fishers, of which specimens of seventy-seven are in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy.
We find recorded no species of King-Fishers to be considered as doubtful or obscure birds of that portion of North America within our prescribed limits.
With this family we close that division of the Perching Birds classed by ornithologists as Fissirostres. Two other families, the Trogonidæ and the Meropidæ, are not represented by species inhabiting the United States or the more northern countries of this continent. Of the Trogonidæ, however, several species are found in Mexico, one of which (Trogon mexicanus) was observed by Lieut. Couch, in the northern part of that country, and will very probably yet be found within the present limits of this confederacy. All the American Trogons are birds of remarkable beauty, and one of them (Calurus resplendens) can scarcely be surpassed in any country. It inhabits Central America, and is the sacred bird of the aborigines, and mentioned by Mr. Stephens and other travellers in the countries which it inhabits. Its plumage, and that of many other American species, is of fine metallic golden green and scarlet.
Of the Meropidæ, or Bee-eaters, no species inhabits America. Those birds are almost restricted to Asia and Africa, one species only being European.
Plate 41
Baird’s Buzzard
Buteo Bairdii (Hoy)
BUTEO BAIRDII.—Hoy.
Baird’s Buzzard.
PLATE XLI. Adults?
Of the several new species of rapacious birds of North America, which have been discovered within a few years, the bird now before the reader is one of the most interesting. It is the second species now ascertained to inhabit this continent, of a group constituting the typical genus Buteo of naturalists, which until a recent period was supposed to be peculiar to the Old World, the previously known American species being Swainson’s Buzzard (Buteo Swainsonii), a bird of the northern regions, little known and nearly lost sight of until recently by ornithologists.
The birds of this group are more active and Falcon-like in their habits than the other species of the North American Buzzards, all of which have been classified in other sub-genera. They also appear to be more strictly predatory in their habits.
The present species was discovered by P. R. Hoy, M. D., an active and enthusiastic naturalist of Racine, Wisconsin, who first observed it and obtained specimens in the vicinity of that city. In the same State, it has also been observed by the Rev. A. O. Barry, of Racine, and Mr. William Dudley, of Madison, both naturalists of extensive acquirements, who have done much to elucidate the zoology of that district. All of those gentlemen concur, however, in representing it as very probably a visitor only in Wisconsin, and migrating to more northern regions of the continent of America. In addition to their specimens, we have seen one other only, which is contained in a collection now deposited in the National Museum, Washington, and was obtained near the Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory, by Lieut. E. G. Beckwith, of the United States Army, in whose charge a party surveyed one of the proposed routes for a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean.