Part v

. 1837, p. 10.

_B. vertice corporeque intensè nitide fuscis, plumis dorsalibus purpurascentibus; primariis nigris; caudâ fuscâ, lineis obscurioribus cancellatâ numerosis, ad apicem sordidè albâ; gulâ abdomine medio crissoque stramineo-albis; pectoris corporisque lateribus fasciâ abdominali femoribusque flavescenti-albis fusco notatis, notis in femoribus rufescentibus; tarsis per mediam partem anticè plumosis, rostro nigro; cerâ tarsisque flavis._

Long. tot. 23 unc.; _alæ_, 15½; _caudæ_, 9½; _tarsi_, 3½.

COLOUR.—Head, back of neck, back, and wing-coverts, umber brown. Feathers on sides of throat edged with fulvous; those on lower parts of back with their basal parts marked with large white spots, edged with fulvous, but which do not show, until the feathers are ruffled. Tail of the same dark brown as the back, with many bars of pale brown, and extreme points tipped with dirty white. Tail-coverts same brown, with the more lateral ones marked with white and fulvous. Wings: primaries black, with the inner and basal webs brownish; secondaries and tertiaries brown, with obscure traces of paler transverse bars. _Under surface._—Chin almost white; throat and breast very pale ochre yellow, with narrow brown lines on the shaft of the feathers, which expand into large marks on the sides of the upper part of the breast, and into regular spots on those of the belly. Lining of wing white, with brown spots on the feathers near their tips, like on those of the belly. Thighs very pale ochre yellow, with transverse bars of pale brown, appearing like inverted wedge-formed marks, with the apex on the shafts. Under tail-coverts almost white; under side of tail pale gray, with darker gray bars on the inner side of shafts. Bill blueish black, with base of lower mandible and part of upper yellowish. Tarsi pale yellow.

FORM.—Fourth primary very little longer than either the third or fifth, which are equal. First nearly equal to the eighth. Extremity of wing when folded reaching within two inches and a half of the end of the tail.

In. Total length 23 Wing when folded 15½ Tail 9½ Tarsi 3½ Middle toe from joint to tip of claw 3 From extremity of beak to within nostril ⁹⁄₁₀

Habitat, Santa Cruz, Lat. 50° S. Patagonia, (_April_.)

Mr. Gould remarks that “this species has all the characters of a true _Buteo_, and will rank as one of the finest of this well defined group. In size it rather exceeds the Common Buzzard of Europe, which in its general style of colouring it somewhat resembles.”

SUB-FAM.—FALCONINA, VIG.

FALCO FEMORALIS. _Temm._

Falco femoralis, _Temm._ Pl. Col. 121 male; and 343 adult male. —— _Spix_, Av. Sp. Nov. 1. p. 18.

This specimen was shot in a small valley on the plains of Patagonia, at Port Desire, in Lat. 47° 44′. It builds its nest in low bushes, and the female was sitting on the eggs in the beginning of January. Egg, 1·8 of an inch in longer diameter, and 1·4 in shorter; surface rough with white projecting points; colour nearly uniform dirty “wood brown,” thickly freckled with rather a darker tint; general appearance, as if it had been rubbed in brown mud. M. D’Orbigny supposed that Latitude 34° was the southern limit of this species; we now find its range three hundred and thirty miles further southward. The same author states that this falcon prefers a dry open country with scattered bushes, which answers to the character of the valleys, in the plains near Port Desire.

TINNUNCULUS SPARVERIUS. _Vieill._

Falco sparverius, _Linn. et Auct._

I obtained specimens both from North and South Patagonia (Rio Negro and Santa Cruz), and Captain King found it at Port Famine in Tierra del Fuego. I saw it at Lima in Peru; and Mr. Macleay (Zoological Journal, vol. iii.) sent specimens from Cuba. According to Wilson it is common in the United States, and Richardson says its northern range is about 54°. The _Tinnunculus_ therefore, ranges throughout both Americas over more than 107 degrees of latitude, or 6420 geographical miles. It is the only bird, which I saw in South America, that hovered over one particular spot, in the same stationary manner, as the common English kestrel (_Falco tinnunculus_, Linn.) is so frequently observed to do.

SUB-FAM.—CIRCINÆ.

1. CIRCUS MEGASPILUS. _Gould._

Circus megaspilus, _Gould_, in Proceedings of the Zoological Society,