4. Buteo Bairdii. Hoy, Proc. Acad. Philada., VI. p. 451. (1853.)
Female. Rather smaller than B. lineatus; wings long and pointed; third primary longest; tail moderate, rounded. Entire upper-parts dark brown, with a purplish-bronze lustre, especially on the primaries; plumage of the head and neck behind, and some feathers on the back, edged and tipped with yellowish-white; upper tail-coverts yellowish-white, with transverse bars of brown. Tail above brownish-cinereous, and having about ten narrow bands of brownish-black, and tipped with white. Under parts pale yellowish-white, or fawn color, with a few sagittate spots of brown on the sides, and a stripe of brown running downwards from the corner of the mouth. Forehead white; under wing-coverts yellowish-white. Cere, legs, and irides, yellow.
Younger? Upper parts very dark-brown, or nearly black, with purplish lustre. Under parts with almost every feather having a large spot of brownish-black, which color predominates on the breast, so as to present a nearly uniform color with the upper parts; throat with narrow stripes of the same color. Flanks and inferior wing-coverts with circular and oval spots of white. Tibiæ dark-brown, with transverse bars and circular and oval spots of reddish-white. Upper tail-coverts reddish-white, with their outer edges brown, and with transverse stripes of the same. Under tail-coverts yellowish-white, with transverse stripes of brown. Forehead white; cheeks yellowish-white. Stripes from the corners of the mouth wide and conspicuous. Sex unknown.
Dimensions. Female—total length (of skin), 19½ inches; wing, 15; tail, 8 inches, and about an inch longer than the folded wings.
Hab. Wisconsin. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.
Obs. This is a well-marked species, especially in the stage of plumage described above as probably the younger, in which the nearly uniformly brownish-black breast and large spots of the same color on the other under-parts, are striking characters. The first-described plumage resembles that of B. pennsylvanicus. We have seen only the two specimens now described, both of which are from the State of Wisconsin.
5. Buteo pennsylvanicus. (Wilson.) The Broad-winged Hawk. Falco pennsylvanicus. Wils., Am. Orn., VI. p. 92. (1812.) Falco latissimus. Wils., Am. Orn., VI. p. 92. (1812. Copies printed later than those containing the preceding name.) Sparvius platypterus. Vieill., Ency. Meth., III. p. 1273. (1823.) Falco Wilsonii. Bonap., Jour. Acad. Philada., III. p. 348. (1824.)
Wils., Am. Orn., VI. pl. 54, fig. 1; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 91, oct. ed. I. pl. 10; Nat. Hist. N. Y. Orn., pl. 5, fig. 11.
Smaller than either of the preceding. Adult. Entire upper-parts dark umber-brown; feathers on the back of the neck white at their bases. Throat white, with narrow longitudinal lines of brown, and with a patch of brown on each side, running from the base of the lower mandible; breast with a wide band composed of large cordate and sagittate spots and transverse stripes of reddish-ferruginous tinged with ashy; other under-parts white, with numerous sagittate spots disposed to form transverse bands on the lower part of the breast, flanks, abdomen, and tibiæ. In some specimens, in winter plumage, the ferruginous color predominates on all the under parts, except the under tail-coverts, and all the feathers have large circular spots on each edge; under tail-coverts white. Tail dark-brown, narrowly tipped with white, and with one broad band of white and several other narrower bands nearer the base. Quills brownish-black, widely bordered with pure white on their inner webs. Young. Plumage above umber-brown, edged on the head and back of the neck with fulvous, and with many feathers on other upper-parts edged with the same color and ashy-white; upper tail-coverts spotted with pure white. Under-parts white, generally tinged with yellowish, many feathers having oblong and lanceolate longitudinal stripes and spots of brown; a stripe of brown on each side of the neck from the base of the under mandible. Tail brown, with several bands of a darker shade of the same and of white on the inner webs of the feathers and narrowly tipped with white.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 17 to 18 inches; wing, 11; tail, 6½ to 7 inches. Male—smaller.
Hab. Eastern North America; Florida (Abadie); Long Island (Giraud); Wisconsin (Hoy). Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.
Obs. This handsome little species is of rather unusual occurrence in the middle and southern States, though according to Dr. Hoy it is abundant in Wisconsin. It is an easily recognized species, though presenting considerable variations in color, according to age and season.
The names Falco pennsylvanicus and Falco latissimus occur in different copies of the sixth volume of the original edition of Wilson (1812), and the probability is that the latter was substituted by the author, in the later printed copies, after he had noticed that he had previously applied the name pennsylvanicus to another species. Of the last three volumes only second editions were published under the editorship of Mr. Ord; the seventh and eighth in 1824, and the ninth in 1825. The statement in Hall’s edition, I. p. 92 (Philadelphia, 1828), that the name latissimus was given by Mr. Ord, is therefore incorrect. That gentleman, now President of the Philadelphia Academy, and of whose advice and instruction we have the great advantage and gratification, informs us that he had nothing to do with either of the names to which we here allude.
6. Buteo Harlani. (Aud.) Harlan’s Buzzard. The Black Warrior. Falco Harlani. Audubon, Orn. Biog., I. p. 441. (1831. Plate pub. 1830) “Buteo borealis.” Gray, Catalogue of Birds in British Museum, Accipitres, p. 34. Buteo albonotatus. Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus., Accipitres, p. 36; Kaup, Isis, 1847, pp. 329, 369?
Aud., B. of Am., pl. 86, oct. ed. I. pl. 8.
“Head very large; neck short; body robust. Feet of ordinary length; tarsus a little compressed, scutellate before and behind, reticularly scaly on the sides; toes scutellate above, scaly on the sides, tubercular and scabrous beneath; claws curved, roundish, very acute. Plumage compact; feathers of the head and neck short and rounded; tibial feathers elongated, and loose at the tips. Wings long; first quill short, third and fifth equal; first primaries cut out on the inner web towards the end. Tail longish, ample, of twelve broad, rounded feathers. Bill light-blue, black towards the end; cere and angles of the mouth yellowish-green. Iris light yellowish-brown. Feet dull greenish yellow; claws black.
“The general color of the plumage is deep chocolate-brown; the under-parts lighter, the feathers there being margined with light-brown. Tail lighter than the back, and rather narrowly barred with brownish-black, the tips brownish-red. Under wing-coverts whitish, spotted with deep-brown. Length, 21 inches; extent of wings, 45; bill, along the back, 1½; along the gap, from the tip of the lower mandible, 1½; tarsus, 1¾.” (Aud., as above.)
Adult? Brownish-black, with a purplish lustre; occipital feathers white at base, and a few white feathers in front at the base of the bill. Under wing-coverts black, with circular spots and irregular bars of white. Quills white on their inner webs for about two-thirds of their length, and transversely barred with pale ashy-brown. Tail above brownish black, tinged with ashy, and with about six to eight bars of black, the widest of which is next to the tip, which is white. Inner webs of the tail-feathers, except the two in the middle, white, mottled with ashy, and with the transverse bars conspicuous; tail beneath ashy-white. Plumage of the back and entire under-parts of the body white at base, and having concealed pairs of circular and oval spots of white most obvious on the abdomen and under tail-coverts. Bill and legs light-colored.
Dimensions. Total length (of skin), 20 inches; wing, 16½; tail, 9½ inches.
Hab. Louisiana (Audubon); Mexico? Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.
Obs. The only bird that we have ever seen which appeared to be this species is that described above as probably the adult. It is one of two or three species of black Buzzards which inhabit Mexico and Central America, and we suspect it of being identical with B. albonotatus (Gray, as above), though of that species there is no sufficient description published.