Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/417

Rh of the eye-brow greenish-blue, cere yellow. Toes yellow, claws black. Bases of the black bristles of the lore whitish. The head and neck are streaked with umber-brown and yellowish-white, the centre and tip of each feather being of the former colour. Back umber-brown, variegated with light reddish-brown and yellowish-white. Quills dark brown towards the end, the outer webs of the first six tinged with grey, the base of all white, that colour extending farther on the secondaries, of most of which, and of some of the primaries, the inner web is ir- regularly barred with brown. Upper tail-coverts white, irregularly barred with dark brown. Tail white at the base, brown and mottled to- wards the end, with a broad subterminal bar of brownish-black, the tips brownish-white. Middle and hind part of the thorax, with the sides blackish-brown. Breast yellowish-white, largely spotted and blotched with umber. Feathers of the legs paler yellowish-red, barred with dusky ; abdomen yellowish- white, as are the under tail-coverts, which are marked with a small brown spot.

Length 22 inches, extent of wings 4 feet 1 inch ; bill along the back 1 1, along the edge ly; tarsus 21 1.

The Female agrees in colouring, but is considerably larger.

The old bird, which has a very different look as to colour, has been noticed or described under different names.

Black Hawk, Falco Niger, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vL p. 82. pi. 53. fig. 1.

Falco Sancti Johannis, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 32.

The bill, feet, and iris, are coloured as in middle age ; but the plumage is of a nearly uniform chocolate-brown, the bases of the quills, however, remaining white, the broad band on the under surface of the wing being the same as in the younger bird ; and the tail being brown, without a subterminal bar of black, but slightly tipped with brownish-white, and barred with yellowish-white on the inner webs, the bars becoming more distinct on the outer feathers. The wings in both reach to near the tip of the tail. The feathers on the nape of the neck are white excepting at the extremities, which is also the case in the young and middle aged birds, and is not a circumstance peculiar to this species, being observed in F. AMcilla, F. palumbarius, F. Nisus, and many others.