Part 215

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).