In regard to this form, we must either consider that it is a distinct species, or assume that it is a light phase of a Cuban species, of which T. sparveroides may be the dark or rufescent form; knowing, as we do, that the differences between leucophrys and sparveroides depend on neither sex, age, nor season, then the only way to account for the two phases is to consider that the Cuban bird (if we deny it the rank of a species) presents a very peculiar example of dimorphism. I have never yet seen a specimen which was not decidedly one or the other. An adult male from Cuba is immaculate white beneath, the breast very strongly tinged with deep rufous, the mustache wholly absent. Two females have narrow brown streaks on the breast, the mustache nearly obsolete; the dusky bars on primaries and tail much narrower.
List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 7; Bost. Soc., 3; Philad. Acad., 2; G. N. Lawrence, 4. Total, 16.
Measurements.—♂. Wing, 6.80–7.30; tail, 4.90–5.20; culmen, .45; tarsus, 1.45; middle toe, .90; specimens, 4. ♀, Wing, 7.10–7.60; tail, 4.90–5.60; culmen, .50–.52; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .91; specimens, 6.
[63] Falco (Tinnunculus) sparveroides. Falco sparveroides, Vigors, Zoöl. Journ. III, 436, 1827; Isis, 1830, p. 1166.—D’Orb. (R. de la Sagra), Hist. Cuba, 1840, p. 30, pl. i. Tinnunculus sparveroides, Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 12, 1844.—Fraser, Zoöl. Typ. pl. xxx.—Bonap. Consp. Av. p. 27.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 100, 1855.—Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 1860, p. 1 (in part dark specimens).—Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Phil. Dec. 1870, 149. Tinnunculus dominicensis (not of Gmel.?), Gray, Hand List, I, 24, 1869.—Gundlach, Repert. Cuba, I, 225, 1865. ? Hypotriorchis ferrugineus, Sauss. Rev. et Mag. Zoöl. 1859, p. 117, pl. iii.
Hab. Cuba (only?).
Adult ♂ (31,985, Cuba; J. Ackhurst). Above, continuously dark plumbeous, from bill to the tail, the shafts of the feathers black (these streaks most noticeable on the head above), the larger scapulars and interscapulars darker centrally, forming indistinct or obscure spots; this plumbeous covers the whole neck laterally, and the middle area of the ear-coverts. An obsolete “mustache” running from the lores downward across the cheeks, a spot across ends of the ear-coverts connected with that on the neck, and obsolete though continuous collar round the nape, inclining to black. Primaries wholly black, basal third of secondaries the same. (No spots on wings.) Tail deep chestnut, shafts of feathers black; terminal band dull slate; subterminal black zone about .60 of an inch in width, but instead of running sharply across, as in all the varieties of sparverius and in leucophrys, the black runs along the edge of each feather, bordering it nearly to the base; the lateral feather has both webs continuous deep chestnut, the tip slate, the subterminal spot and shaft black. Chin and throat dull ashy-white; rest of lower parts continuous deep chestnut-rufous, this palest on the anal region, and tinged with slate across the jugulum as well as on the flanks, where there are a very few darker spots. (The chestnut beneath is unspotted.) Inner webs of primaries mottled along the edge with paler slate, this running in points toward the shafts, giving an idea of bars. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4, 1. Wing, 7.00; tail, 4.45; tarsus, 1.31; middle toe, .90; culmen, .50.
♂ (29,579, Cuba, April 25; Charles Wright). Head above, dark plumbeous; feathers with darker shaft-lines; black stripes of head more sharply defined than in the male. Above, continuously deep rufous (brighter and more ferruginous than in the different styles of sparverius), continuously barred, as in var. sparverius, but blacker, the bars on upper part of back with tendency to longitudinal direction. Tail with twelve narrow, sharply defined bars of black; but the ground-color continuous rufous to the tip, the lateral feather as deeply rufous as the middle. Inner webs of primaries deep rusty-rufous, with twelve very narrow transverse bars of dusky crossing to the edge. The middle area of the ear-coverts, with the chin and throat, is dull white; the rest of the lower parts (including side of the neck) and whole lining of the wing are deep rusty-rufous, paler on the crissum, nearly white on the anal region; these regions have no spots, except on the flanks, where are a few narrow transverse bars. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4, 1. Wing, 7.00; tail, 4.45; tarsus, 1.30; middle toe, .90; culmen, .51.
Juv. ♂ (39,108, Remedios, Cuba, December 11, 1863; N. H. Bishop). General appearance of the adult; but back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts chestnut-rufous, uniform with the tail; these parts are, however, strongly clouded with more bluish slate, and the blackish spots are more distinct. The black zone of the tail runs more sharply across, and is narrower than in the adult. The middle area of the ear-coverts is nearly as light as the throat. The rufous beneath is less castaneous, as well as less continuous, becoming nearly white on abdomen and tibia; the slaty tinge on the jugulum is wanting. Wing-formula, 3, 2–4, –1. Wing, 6.85; tail, 4.90; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe, .90; culmen, .50.
♀ (23,546, Monte Verde, Cuba, July 16, 1861; Charles Wright). Differing from the adult in the same respects as does that of sparverius, the chief differences consisting in the deeper chestnut of the tail, and broader and blacker bars above. Rufous beneath, with numerous sagittate spots of black; lower tail-coverts with subterminal bars, and lining of the wing with sparse streaks of the same. Plumage generally with a blended appearance. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4=1. Wing, 7.40; tail, 4.85; tarsus, 1.30; middle toe, .90. Another specimen (No. 23,545, Monte Verde, July 17, 1861; C. Wright) is much the same, but has distinct spots of black on the abdomen, and tear-shaped marking of the same on the scapulars. The young female of this species bears a remarkably close resemblance to the young of T. punctatus, Cuv., of Madagascar, agreeing almost entirely with it in colors, with the exception of those on the tail, the bars on which are black and ash, instead of black and rufous. Whether it be considered a distinct species or not, the T. sparveroides certainly grades into the T. sparverius, in the very near relation of an aberrant condition of the adult phase of the latter, noticed in specimens from Florida and adjoining portions of the South American and Gulf coast, and the young normal or usual plumage of the former. As is well known, the young ♂ sparveroides has a reddish and also more or less barred or spotted back, as in the male of all the races of sparverius at all ages; the intermediate or transition dress of the young male showing cloudings of plumbeous in the rufous, indicative of the coming uniform plumbeous of perfect maturity. Now, knowing that a wholly plumbeous dorsal region in the adult, and wholly or mostly rufous dorsal region in the young male, are characteristic features of T. sparveroides, we are somewhat surprised to find in adult males of T. sparverius var. isabellinus from Florida, a greater or less mixture of plumbeous feathers in various parts of the dorsal region, particularly in the rump and upper tail-coverts. Many specimens from this locality show another approach to the young male of sparveroides in the deep, unspotted rufous of the lower parts, sometimes the throat only being white. A young male of sparveroides from Cuba, and an adult male of sparverius said to be from Cuba, are at a cursory glance not distinguishable; a close comparison, however, will disclose the fact, that in the former, the badly defined head-markings, nearly obsolete black markings on the wings (including basal space of the secondaries, which is conspicuously and sharply defined in the other specimen), and the blurred character of the bars over inner webs of primaries, remain as characters distinguishing the former. The lateral tail-feather, too, has its outer web deep rufous, while it is white, black-spotted, in the specimen of sparverius.
List of Specimens examined.—Nat. Mus., 14; Bost. Soc., 3; Philad., 1; G. N. Lawrence, 4; R. Ridgway, 1. Total, 23.