ith Hii ¥; Pi fh te beng Smithsonian Institution Libraries GIFT OF Marcia B ey Tucker on : ae 7 Mere ty ‘ oo)? a PEA: 2 Loan en fo 4h, ed Ms an Ty ae FAUNA BOREALI-AMERICANA. PART SECOND, CONTAINING Pte BERD Ss Eee SN eX BOREALI-AMERICANA; OR THE ZOOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN PARTS OF BRITISH AMERICA: CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE OBJECTS OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTED ON THE LATE NORTHERN LAND EXPEDITIONS UNDER COMMAND OF CAPTAIN SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, R.N. PART SECOND, TE ik Belek Ds: BY Ce WILLIAM SWAINSON, Ese., F.R.S., F.LS., HONORARY OR CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF SEVERAL FOREIGN SOCIFTIES. AND JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D., F.RS., F.LS., MEMBER OP THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON, OF THE WERNERIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH, OF THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF QUEBEC, AND FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS, SURGEON AND NATURALIST TO THE EXPEDITIONS. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS PLATES AND WOODCUTS. PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXxXI. 934 ? . d a boos = ole ; J a, i Pu Ne Vig q t y Pn, le 4 * ' ‘ , 1 i A i - - LONDON: - printed by Witt1am Cowes, Stamford Street. ADVERTISEMENT. Mr. Swarnson’s contributions to the following pages have the letters Sw. subjoined, except in one or two instances, where they have been accidentally omitted. It is to be understood, however, that all the remarks on natural arrangement are his, and that the specific names and synonymes are given on his authority, having been either supplied or revised by him. In the descriptions, ‘ Werner's Nomenclature, by Syme,” has been adopted as the standard for the names of the colours, the specimens having been invariably compared with the coloured patterns previous to noting down the hue of the plumage. The measurements are in inches and lines, or twelfth parts of an inch. The total length of the bird is measured from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, the neck being on the stretch. In the Fatco- nip& and Srrieip#, the length of the longest quill when plucked from the wing is given ; but this having been found inconvenient in practice, the length of the folded wing from the tip of the longest feather to the bend of the carpal joint is recorded in the descriptions of the succeeding families. The dimensions of the bill are generally taken both from the feathers of the forehead, following the curve of its ridge,—and from the rictus or angle of the mouth, in a straight line to the tip. The tail is measured from its extremity to the insertion of the quills in the coccyx; and in the length of the tarsus are included its articular cartilages ; that is, the points of the compasses were placed in the centres of the tarsal and metatarsal joints. The lengths of the toes are given separately from the nails. THESE LISTS ARE SUBJOINED, THAT THE ORNITHOLOGIST MAY KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE SPECIMENS DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES. Presented to the Zoouoaicat Society by order of the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Aquila chrysaéta. Halizeetus leucocephalus. Circus cyaneus. Strix cinerea. Bubo Virginianus. B. arcticus. Strix funerea. Strix Tengmalmi. Lanius borealis. L. excubitorides. Tyrannus intre- pidus. Tyrannula Saya. Tyr. pusilla. Tyr. Richardsonii. Cinclus Americana. Merula minor. M. Wilsonii. M. solitaria. Orpheus meruloides. O. rufus. . felivox. Sialia arctica. Sylvicola wstiva. S. maculosa. S. petechia. S, striata. Vermivora rubricapilla. V. peregrina. Setophaga Bonapartii. Parus atricapillus. Seiurus aurocapillus. S. aquaticus. Anthus aquaticus. Vireo olivaceus. Bombycilla Americana. Alauda cornuta. Plectrophanes Lapponica. P. picta. Embe- riza pallida. Fringilla leucophrys. F. Pennsylvanica. F. iliaca. FF. hyemalis. Pipilo arctica. Loxia leucoptera. Fringilla purpurea. Linaria tephrocotis. L. minor. Agelaius xanthocephalus. Scolecophagus ferrugineus. Garrulus brachyrhynchus. Picus tridactylus. P. arcticus. Troglodytes edon. Tr. hyemalis. Tr. palustris. Hirundo Americana. H. lunifrons. Tetrao obscurus. T. Canadensis. T. Franklinii. T. saliceti. T. rupestris. T. leucurus. T. phasianellus. Strepsilas interpres. Grus Canadensis. Ardea lentiginosa. Numenius Hudsonius. N. borealis, Tringa Douglasii. T. alpina. T. Schinzii. Totanus semipalmatus. TT. vociferus. T. flavipes. T. Bar- tramius. TT. chloropygius. Limosa Hudsonica, Scolopax Novoboracensis. Sc. Drummondii. Rallus Carolinus. Fulica Americana. Phalaropus Wilsonii. Podiceps cornutus. Sterna nigra. Larus glaucus. L. zonorhynchus. L. brachyrhynchus. L. Franklinii. lL. Bonapartii. Lestris Richardsonii. Anas discors. Mareca Americana. Oidemia perspicillata. O. fusca. Fuligula Vallis- neria. F.ferina. F.rufitorques. F.rubida. Clangula Barrovii. Cl. histrionica. Hiarelda glacialis. Mergus cucullatus. Colymbus glacialis. C. septentrionalis. [In all 130 specimens.] Presented to the Museum of the University of Edinburgh. Accipiter palumbarius, male & fem. Buteo borealis. B. lagopus. Circus cyaneus, male, fem. & young. Strix otus. S. brachyota. S. cinerea. S, Virginiana. S. funerea. S.Tengmalmi. Tyrannus intrepidus. Tyrannula Saya. Cinclus Americanus. Merula migratoria. M. Wilsonii. Sylvicola macu- losa. Setophaga ruticilla. Parus atricapillus. Anthus aquaticus. Bombycilla garrula. B. Americana. Fringilla leucophrys. F. Pennsylvanica. F. graminea. Pipilo arctica. Dolichonyx oryzivorus. Age- laius phoeniceus, male & fem. A. xanthocephalus. Stumella Ludoviciana. Icterus Baltimore. Quis- calus versicolor, male & fem. Scolecophagus ferrugineus, male & fem. Corvus corone. C. pica. Picus pileatus. P. villosus, male & fem. PP. pubescens. P. varius. P. arcticus. P. tridactylus, male & fem. Colaptes auratus, male & fem. Caprimulgus Virginianus. Hirundo purpurea. Alcedo alcyon. Tetrao umbellus, male & fem. T. obscurus. T. Canadensis, male, fem., & young. T. saliceti, spring and wint. T. leucurus, summer and wint. T. phasianellus. Charadrius vociferus. C. pluvialis. Strepsilas interpres. Ardea lentiginosa. Tringa Douglasii. T. Schinzii. Totanus semipalmatus. T. vociferus. TT. flavipes. T. Bartramius. T.chloropygius. Limosafedoa. L.Hudsonica. Rallus Carolmus. Phalaropus Wilsonii. P. hyperboreus. Podiceps comutus. Sterna nigra. Larus zonorhynchus. L. Franklinii. L. Bonapartii. Anas clypeata, male & fem. A. strepera. A. crecca. A. discors, fem. & young. Mareca Americana. Oidemia perspicillata, male & young. O. fusca. Fuligula Vallisneria, male & fem. F. marila. F. rufitorques, male & fem. F. rubida. Clangula vulgaris, male & young. C. albeola, male & fem. Harelda glacialis, male & fem. Mergus merganser. M. cucullatus.—86 species, in addition to 40 specimens collected on the first Expedition, and also preserved in the Edinburgh Museum. Twelve specimens were likewise sent to the Plymouth Museum, pursuant to his Majesty's commands; and between 70 and 80 species have been presented to Mr. Swainson, by permission of the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for Colonial affairs*. * Mr. Swainson has deposited specimens from his own collection, of the true Vireo olivaceus and Tyrannula rapaz, in the British and the Edinburgh Museums. To the former he has also sent Vireo Bartramii. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Inrropuction, by Dr. Richardson : ix List of Species that frequent the North-west Coast (acts) : : XVi Table of Temperatures (note) , oe Xvi Table of Species, with their Distribution, ata SpNe ese to Me pages of the Fauna in which they are described : : : Xxli Lists of Birds resident in the Fur-countries (Tables IL, IIl., Iv. ) : XXXIV Lists of migratory Birds that visit the Fur-countries (Tables V., VI., VII., VIII.) xxxv List of Pennsylvanian Birds supposed to visit the Fur-countries, but not seen by the Expedition (note) : : : | XK VIL List of resident Pennsylvanian Birds that do not ee the paeeouniies (note) xxxvil List of the Birds of the North Georgian Islands (Table IX.) : . XXXvill List of Greenland Birds (note) : : ; : : XXXVIll Comparative Table : . a) 9.0°6.0.< List of Species common to the noriherh ity of the New and Old Gonuacate XXXIX INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS ON THE Natura. System, by Mr. Swainson xli Prerace, by Mr. Swainson Ivii List or AuTHors : Ixv Page Page RAPTORES 1{| SCANSORES 298 VULTURIDE . 1 Picipz . 299 FaLconipz& 8 CEeRTHIADE . 318 STricIDz 71| TENUIROSTRES 321 INSESSORES 100 TROCHILIDE 322 DENTIROSTRES 103 FISSIROSTRES 326 LANnIADE 105 HirunDInIDE 328 MERULIDE 149 CaPRIMULGIDE . 336 SYLVIADZ 200 Hatcyonipé 339 AMPELIDE 232 | RASORES 341 CONIROSTRES 241 TETRAONIDE 341 FRINGILLIDE 244 CoL_umBIDE 363 STURNIDZ 274 | GRALLATORES 367 Corvipz& 288 | NATATORES 410 CURTIPEDES 298 ANATIDE 435 Appenpiczs, Nos. I. & II. 481 InDEx 503 N. B.—For a systematic List of the Species, with reference to the pages, see Table I., Introduction, p. xxii. LIST OF PLATES. No.* Page No. Page 24 FALCO SPARVERIUS, male A 31 48 PLECTROPHANES LAPPONICA 5 248 25 FaLco #SALon, female . 5: Oy; 49 PLECTROPHANES PICTA 6 zo) 26 AcciPITER (ASTUR) PALUMBARIUS, male 39 50 LINARIA TEPHROCOTIS . 3 265 27 BUTEO VULGARIS, male : 2 47 51 Pyreira (PIPILO) nem | ea le each other 28 BuTEO LAGOPUS ‘ 5 52 52 Pyrerra(PrPiLo) arctica, fem.\ petween 261 29 CIRCUS CYANEUS, var. AMER. male > 6) 53 Pypruuta (CoryTHUS) ENUCLEATOR 262 30 Buso ARCTICUS . : : 86 54 GARRULUS STELLERI 3 ‘ 294 31 SrrRix CINEREA 2 : eec/vh 55 GARRULUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS . 296 32 Strix TENGMALMI : : 94 56 PicUS TRIDACTYLUS, male ; 311 33 LANIUS BOREALIS, female ! 111 57 Picus arcticus, male ; . 313 34 LANIUS EXCUBITORIDES - 115 58 CENTROCERCUS UROPHASIANUS, male 358 35 TYRANNUS BOREALIS, female . 141 59 TETRAO OBsCURUS, male, to face each ie 36 MeRULA MINOR . : : 179 60 TeETRAO OBscURUS, fem. \other between} 345 37 MERULA SOLITARIA . F - 184 61 TetRao FRANKLINII, male A 348 38 ORPHEUS MERULOIDES 5 3 187 62 TeTRao CANADENSIS, female . - 346 39 EryTHaca (SIALIA) ARCTICA - 209 63 LAGOPUS LEUCURUS, summer 6 356 40 SvyLVICOLA MACULOSA, male s 213 64 LaGopus RUPEsTRIs, female ‘ 354 41 SYLVICOLA PETECHIA : 25 65 NuMENIUS BOREALIS 5 3 378 nig ee RUBRICAPILLA, iP L2- 999 66 Tringa Doverasii : : 380 AQ “(Syivic. (VERM.) PEREGRINA, under fig. 67 ToTANUS SEMIPALMATUS, male ‘ 388 43 SELURUS AQUATICUS : 7229 68 CocCOTHRAUSTES VESPERTINA, male 269 44 ANTHUS AQUATICUS : : 231 69 PHataropus Witsontl, female . 405 45 TYRANNULA SAYA. ‘ o. 142 70 CLianeuLa BarRrRovi, male : 456 Eanes PUSILLA, upper figure |46 71 Larus Franxuinu, male. . 424 40) TyrannuLa RicHaRDsonit, under fig. 72 Larus Bonapartii, male : 426 47 SeropHaGa Bonapartit, male e225 73 Lestris RicHARDSONII 2 433 * Continued from the First Volume. LIST OF WOOD-CUTS, Representing parts of the following birds. Page mF Page Page Falcé esalon .......6....0 eee 67 | Fringilla leucophrys ........... 256 | Troglodytes palustris.........+. 320 Accipiter (Astur) palumbarius... 68 5 Pennsylvanica........ 257 | Caprimulgus Virginianus..... «. 339 Buteo vulgaris....... addasooug Uh) . NEES ise Oboe ...e\.. 258 | Tetrao umbellus ...... dod0G00 . 344 » lagopus .......... stelevenete 69 7 hyemalis........ Sopdd VEE) y Obscurus, male.......00. 346 » (Circus) cyaneus......... 70 | Linaria tephrocotis ...........- 266 - - Semale ........ 346 a) ” » young...’ 70)| Pyrangarubra.......... onanos 273 » Canadensis...... KO GabD . 348 SULIK OUUS;./ 5 a )niaicinleiojereleloispatele els 74 | Quiscalus versicolor.........+. . 286 » Franklinii .......... -.. 350 po CIMELCA Vayetelafelalerchefetehereroreere 80 | Scolecophagus ferrugineus....... 287 9 Saliceth ose. . ve ce oe «. 353 HMLLV.CLER joi ohetele suajacelalsteyeieterete 91 | Garrulus brachyrhynchus ....... 297 » xupestris.......... eee. 396 iy fumerea...... eee. eee eee 94 | Picus pileatus seeeesees 30D gy LEUCUTUS) <Je =) o sieiersieieielelole 357 Wireojolivaceusisy. <2 s\secteieyte rice 235 A aliens apooododoudoned 307 | Tyrannus borealis ............. 498 Alauda cornuta, ... boeaoe donb 246 39) pubescensi. 6.00.37. 309 | Tyrannula pusilla............ «. 499 Plectrophanes Lapponica ....... 250 9 _ Eridactylus) ite -eitesia cia! Ole ; Richardsonii..... aaoo LY Fringilla graminea............. 254 | Troglodytes edon ......+.2+.. 317 ERRATA IN THE NAMES OF THE PLATES IN SOME IMPRESSIONS. Plate. Page. 29 .. 55, for ‘‘ Cyancus,”’ read “‘ CyaNEus.” 37 .. 184, (Merutza Soxiraria,) for ‘* Pl. 35,” read ‘° Pl. 37.” 46 .. 146, for “* Acapica. NuncrotLa,” read ‘“‘ Pusinta. RICHARDSONII.’ 61 .. 348, for ** Terrao CanaDENs!s,” &c. read ** TETRAO FRANKLINII.” 62 .. 346, dele ** Dar. et T. Franklinii Doug.” 66 .. 380, for ‘* Douerassut,”’ read ** Dovexasit.” ’ To the Binder—This slip to be pasted in opposite the List of Plates. i H A : ‘ / i ; & ~ i ‘ - i ; SATLGAD - Fa Pe : pve. ‘ : Ges = The £ : « - ie } : Al ee t a® j 1, : INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND VOLUME; Dr. RICHARDSON. ScieNcE is indebted to the exertions of the Hudson’s Bay Company for almost all that is-known of the Ornithology of the American Fur- countries ; under which term we comprehend generally the whole country north of the forty-eighth parallel of latitude. The French Canadians were the first, indeed, who penetrated into the regions beyond the Great Lakes in pursuit of peltry; but the few journals of their proceedings that have come down to us, though rich in per- sonal adventure, contribute nothing to Natural History, beyond incidental anecdotes of the animals that are objects of chase. In like manner, the earlier English navigators, who, in exploring Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Seas, aided in laying the foundation of the naval’ glory of their country, limited their notes on Zoology to brief remarks on the animals used for food, but seldom or never gave descriptions sufficiently characteristic to identify the species. | The first collections of Hudson’s Bay birds of which I can find any record, are those formed by Mr. Alexander Light, who was sent out, ninety years ago, by the Hudson’s Bay Company, on account of his knowledge of Natural History; and by Mr. Isham, who, during a long residence, as Governor of various forts or trading-posts, employed his leisure hours in preparing the skins of beasts, birds, and fishes. These two gentlemen returning to England, about the year 1745, fortunately for the advancement of Ornithology, entrusted their b xX INTRODUCTION. specimens to Mr. George Edwards, who did them ample justice, in his splendid “ Natural History of Birds*,’ the most original and valuable work of the kind in the English language. In the first volume, he has figured and described with accuracy ten of Mr. Light’s birds, and in his third volume, which appeared in 1749, thirty-two of Mr. Isham’s are equally well illustrated f. In that year also, Ellis published his account of the voyage of the Dobbs and California, wherein he mentions some of the animals that came under his notice in the winter of 1747, which he passed in Hayes River; and a narrative of the proceedings of the same voyage, by Mr. Drage, Clerk of the California, is still more full on points relating to Natural History. During the next twenty years, no additional information was obtained of the Zoology of those parts; but Mr. William Wales having been sent to Hudson’s Bay, in 1768, to observe the transit of Venus, Mr. Graham, Governor of the Com- pany’s post at Severn River, embraced the opportunity afforded by his return to England, of transmitting a collection of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes to the Royal Society. These being described by John Reinhold Forster, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1772 §, excited the attention of the scientific world; and, by desire of the Royal Society, directions were given by the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company that objects of Natural History should be annually sent to England. Mr. Humphrey Martin, accord- ingly, sent home several hundred specimens of animals and _ plants, collected at Albany Fort, of which he was Governor; and Mr. Hut- chins, who succeeded him in that office, was still more industrious, * Edwards presented a copy of this work, coloured by his own hand, to the Royal Society; and another copy, which he sent to Linnzeus, returning to England again when Sir James Smith acquired the invaluable museum and library of that prince of naturalists, is now in the possession of the Lin- nean Society. The Linnean specific names are added to it in manuscript. t In four instances Edwards devotes separate plates to the males and females, which reduces the number of species of birds from Hudson’s Bay, introduced into his work, to thirty-eight. { York Factory is situated on the alluvial point of land which separates this river from the more important stream of Nelson's River, and is the place where the principal part of the waders and water-fowl collected on Sir John Franklin’s first Expedition were procured. § The species of birds enumerated by Forster are fifty-seven, of which twenty-two had been pre- viously made known by Edwards ; while sixteen, figured by the latter, do not enter Forster’s list. INTRODUCTION. xi not only in preparing many specimens, but in drawing up minute descriptions of all the quadrupeds and birds he could obtain, adding their native names, with notices of their nidification, food, and habits. His observations *, which, in fact, embrace almost all that has been recorded of the habits of the Hudson’s Bay birds up to the present time, being communicated to Latham and Pennant, are incorporated in the ‘‘ General Synopsis of Birds,’ and in ‘‘ Arctic Zoology.” Indeed, Pennant, in some instances, appears to have adopted Mr. Hutchins’s descriptions, though unaccompanied by specimens, pre- fixing the names of nearly-resembling European birds, which an actual comparison would have shown to have been quite distinct ; and in this way several species have been enumerated in systematic works as natives of Hudson’s Bay, which do not actually exist there. On the other hand, Mr. Hutchins has distinctly noticed a few species which have been but very lately admitted into the ornithological systems. Captain Cook’s third voyage, in 1777-8, contains some information respecting the animals of the north-west coasts of America and Behring’s Straits, but, unfortunately, no figures of the birds were published ; and the compendious notices which are contained in the works of Pennant and Latham, defective as they are in details of structure, are, in many instances, insufficient to enable us to identify the species, or to ascertain their proper situation in the system. The specimens themselves, collected on this and Cook’s other voyages, of unrivalled extent and interest, which ought to have been carefully preserved for reference in a national museum, have either gone to enrich foreign collections, or are entirely lost to science. Pennant’s “ Arctic Zoology,’ which appeared in 1785, contains the fullest account of the birds of Arctic America which has hitherto been published. It embraces the species introduced by Latham in his “ Synopsis,’’ which was then in course of publication ; but, in common with other ornithological works of that period, it includes many specific names, attached merely to a different state of plumage, * In one volume folio, in the Library of the Hudson’s Bay Company. b 2 xil INTRODUCTION. resulting from age or sex. Exclusive of these nominal species, Pen- nant describes seventeen from the north-west coast and Behring’s Straits, collected on Captain Cook’s Expedition, and eighty-three from Hudson’s Bay, of which seventy-three had been previously made known by Edwards and Forster. Umfreville’s “ Account of Hudson’s Bay,’’ and Hearne’s “ Journey to the Coppermine River,” published in 1795, give some interesting details of the habits of the more common birds. There is no evidence in the Philosophical Transactions, of the orders of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1 in 1772, above alluded to, having been beneficial to science through the chien of the Royal Society ; but their instructions served to acquaint the residents with the value set, in England, upon the natural productions of the northern regions; and collections, chiefly of birds, have continued to be transmitted annually to London up to the present time, as presents either to the Governor and Committee or to the personal friends of the parties. The former, besides forming a museum of the Hudson’s Bay productions, which is liberally open to the public, have presented numerous specimens to the British Museum and Zoological Society. Private museums have also been greatly enriched from these sources, among which that of Joseph Sabine, Esq., is particularly deserving of notice. This gentle- man has long studied the Ornithology of Hudson’s Bay, and it is to be regretted that he has hitherto laid before the public only a part of the extensive information he has acquired on the subject. His Appendix to the Narrative of Sir John Franklin’s first Journey shows how well he could have performed the task had he found leisure. He has lately transferred his rich museum to the Andersonian Institution of Glasgow. Mr. Leadbeater’s invaluable collection also contains an extensive suite of birds from Hudson’s Bay, some of which have been recently figured in the American Ornithology of the Prince of Musig- nano, and are among the most interesting novelties in that splendid work. The voyages of Vancouver, Portlock, Meares, and Langsdorff, to the north-west coast, added little to Ornithology; nor is there much cer- INTRODUCTION. xill tain information to be derived from the notices of Lewis and Clark of the birds they saw on the banks of the Columbia. They were unable to bring many specimens across the mountains, and their descriptions are in general too vague for scientific purposes, which is, perhaps, attributable to the untimely death of Governor Lewis previous to the publication of the work. All this, however, would have been compensated by the indefati- gable researches of Mr. David Douglas, which would have made the birds of the north-west coast equally familiar to Europeans with those of Hudson’s Bay, had not his extensive collections gone to decay, through the length of the voyage and other causes beyond his control. He is now a second time exploring that interesting country, and we look with much anxiety for the rich harvest he is sure to reap. Eschscholtz and Chamisso, the naturalists who accompanied Kot- zebue on his voyages to the Russian-American settlements and Beh- ring’s Straits, doubtless acquired a knowledge of the birds of the places they visited; but only some detached notices of their dis- coveries in Natural History have as yet reached this country. The more recent voyage of Captain Beechey has also been productive of much advantage to natural science; and I rejoice that Mr. Vigors has undertaken the task of bringing the ornithological discoveries before the public *. Almost the only information we have of the birds of the extreme northern coasts of America is contained in the Natural History Appendices to the voyages of Ross and Parry. Having had _ access to many of the specimens procured on these voyages, and preserved in the British and Edinburgh Museums, I have described them in the present work +. * JT should gladly have availed myself of the kindness of the Author, who entrusted me with the proof-sheets, to have rendered this work more complete, by giving a list of the species that frequent the north-west coast; but very few of the specimens brought home on that Expedition had notes attached to them to indicate their locality, so that the native places of many are uncertain. + I embrace the opportunity here afforded of again returning my sincere thanks to Charles Kénig, John George Children, and John Gray, Esqrs., of the British Museum; to Robert Jameson, Esq., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh ; and Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Esq., Secretary to the Zoological Society; for the great facilities they have invariably afforded me of X1V INTRODUCTION, As the specimens obtained on Sir John Franklin’s two Expeditions furnish almost the whole of our authentic information of the Orzi- thology of the zntertor of the Fur-countries, it remains that I should add to the preceding brief notice of the sources of our knowledge of the feathered tribes that frequent the coast line of Arctic America a few remarks on the cercwmstances under which the collections were made. 'The reader will thus be better enabled to form some opinion on the proportion which the species described in this work bear to the whole that frequent the Fur-countries. In the first place, I have to state that, in neither Expedition, did Ornithology occupy much of our attention. The want of means of transport for bulky packages in the overland marches, and the difficulty of preserving from injury recent specimens of birds, on the numerous carrying places which occur on the canoe route, induced us to devote the whole of our spare time during the journey to Botany and Mine- ralogy. As the entire summer of each year was spent in travelling, we did not reach our-winter quarters until after almost all the migra- tory birds had retired to the southward. Nothing could, therefore, be done beyond securing examples of the few resident birds, until the following spring, when the interval of a month or six weeks, which occurred between the first melting of the snow and the commence- ment of the summer journey, was devoted almost exclusively to collecting birds. Many of the specimens were shot by the other officers, but they were all prepared by Mr. Drummond or myself. The collection made on the first Expedition was formed in the several springs of 1820, 21, and 22, on the Saskatchewan, at Fort Enterprise, and on Great Slave Lake respectively ; and in the autumn of 1822, at York Factory (lat. 57°), Hudson’s Bay. We arrived at the latter place on the 14th of July; and betwixt that date and our departure for England, in the beginning of September, we had an opportunity of consulting the museums under their charge, and the desire they have constantly manifested of fur- thering my researches by every means in their power. I am, likewise, under many obligations for similar kindnesses to the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany, and to Mr. Smith, their Secretary ; and also to William Yarrell, Esq., and Mr. Leadbeater, for the liberal access they have given me to their collections. INTRODUCTION. XV obtaining a very considerable number of birds, chiefly waders, which assemble in flocks at the mouth of Hayes River, previous to taking their departure southwards on the setting in of the frost *. Mr. Sabine, who wrote the Zoological Appendix to the Narrative of that Expedition, notices seventy-one species of birds. Want of leisure, however, caused him to omit several of the waders, and a portion of the collection never reached him, being lost after its arrival in England. On the second Expedition specimens of birds were collected at Fort Franklin, on Great Bear Lake, in the spring of 1826, between the 8th of May and 14th of June, being the periods of the first arrival of the migratory birds and the commencement of our voyage to the coast ; and, in 1827, the months of April and May and one-half of June were devoted to the same purpose at Carlton and Cumberland House, on the banks of the Saskatchewan. Having the able assistance of Mr. Drummond in the latter period, ‘the bulk of the collection was then formed. Mr. Drummond also shot two or three species on the declivity of the Recky mountains that were not seen elsewhere ; and a very few were prepared in the course of our summer journeys. It is evident, from the short time allotted to the task, that we could hope to obtain only the more common birds. The Prince of Musignano enumerates a somewhat greater number of species in his Synopsis of American Birds, than those contained in Temminck’s Manual of European Ornithology; and as the country we traversed north of the Great Lakes exceeds in extent the whole of Europe lying higher than the forty-eighth degree of latitude, we shall not, perhaps, err greatly in ascribing to the Fur-countries as great a variety as Europe presents within the same parallels. The present work contains two hundred and forty species, and above twenty-seven in addition are described by Pennant and Vigors * This was the only autumn collection made on either Expedition, and we regret that we have not been able to avail ourselves of it, so much as we could have wished, in drawing up the present work. Exclusive of the specimens above alluded to as having been entirely lost, many were destroyed by moths in London ; and the only portion of the collection which I can now trace are forty specimens, which were presented to the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, and are still in good order. XVI INTRODUCTION. as inhabitants of the north-west coast*, making in all two hundred and sixty-seven. Now, according to Temminck’s Manual, there are three hundred and twenty-six} birds which range in Europe to the north- ward of the forty-eighth parallel ; so that the number of species that remain to be detected in the Fur-countries will not, probably, much exceed sixty ; and we have some reasons, connected with the cireum- stances under which the collections were made for believing, that the majority of these will prove to belong to the families of Sylviade, Fringulide, and Charadriade. Several of the Procellarieé are also known to inhabit Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Sea; but, from our want of means of identifying the species, they have been omitted. The same causes that tended to limit our means of collecting operated, together with my previous ignorance of Ornithology, to prevent my recording the habits of the species to the extent and with * List of species that frequent the north-west coast of America, from Pennant’s Arctic Zoology ; with references to those described in this work :— No. No. 139 Steller’s Crow, Nootka Sound. (Garrulus Stelleri, 260 Cinereous Finch. Sw., p. 294, hujus operis.) 381 Black Snipe. (STELLER.) 151 Unalaschka Oriole. 394 Gambet Sandpiper, lat. 693°. 160 Red-headed Woodpecker. (Melanerpus erythroce- 397 Little ditto, Nootka Sound. phalus, p. 316.) 413 Tringa fulicaria. (Phalaropus fulicarius, p. 407.) 168 Three-toed ditto, Morton Sound. (Picus (Apter- 415 Plain phalarope. (p. 408.) nius) ? p. 3ll? 313?) 430 Antient Auk. 169 Belted Kingfisher. (Alcedo alcyon, p.339.) 432 Tufted ditto. (Mormon cirrhatus, Bon., Syn., No. 177 Ruffed Honey-sucker, Nootka. (Trochilus (Selas- 378.) phorus) rufus, p. 324.) 431 Pigmy ditto, Behring’s Straits. 186 Norton Sound Bustard. 433 Perroquet ditto, ) ditto. (Phaleris psitaccula, Bon., 197 Varied Thrush. (Orpheus meruloides, Sw., p. 187.) 435 Dusky ditto, s Syn., No. 376.) 202 Unalaschka Thrush. 434 Crested ditto, ditto. (Phaleris cristatella, Ip. p. 426.) 207 Chatterer, lat. 64° 30'. (Bombycilla garrula, p. 237.) 486 Marbled Guillemot. (Uria marmorata, Ip. No.372.) 229 Unalaschka Bunting. (Fringilla arctica, Vicors, 457 Ivory Gull, Behring’s Strats. Beechey’s Birds, p. 20 ?) 463 Fork-tail Petrel, ditto. 230 Black-crowned ditto, Nootka Sound. 473 Bering Goose. (STELLER.) 232 Unalaschka ditto (second species). 497 Western Duck. 251 Ferruginous Finch, (a variety,) Unalaschka. 510 Gannet. 256 Norton ditto. 534 Giant Petrel. The Prince of Musignano and Mr. Vigors give, in addition to the above, Charadrius pluvialis, Chamisso Island. (p. 369.) Larus Sabinii, Behr. Straits. (p. 428 ) Mormon glacialis, Behr. Straits. (Bon., Syn., No. 379.) Diomedea fuliginosa, Aleutian Islands. (Vic., Beechey’s Cerorhinca occidentalis, ditto. (Ip.) Birds, p. 89.) Lewis and Clark, and the authors we have mentioned in the text, indicate several others. + The whole number of European birds described iu Temminck’s Manual is three hundred and eighty, of which two hundred and thirty-five are land-birds. Bonaparte’s Synopsis of the Birds of the United States contains three hundred and eighty-two species, of which two hundred and fifteen are land- birds ; and one hundred and sixty-seven belong to the orders of Grallatores and Natatores. INTRODUCTION. XVil the accuracy required for the purposes of science. With the view of obviating this defect in some degree, and of rendering the work more popular, I began by introducing occasional extracts from the lively and accurate pen of Wilson. I soon found, however, that a continu- ance of this practice would have swelled the work to an undue size, and have left no room for Mr. Swainson’s important and interesting observations on natural arrangement. It was, therefore, laid aside ; and, at the suggestion of Mr. Swainson, the succeeding descriptions were much and advantageously compressed *. The discovery of the laws which regulate the distribution of the species over the face of the globe, being one of the most important ends of the publication of local Faune, the scanty contributions of facts that we have been enabled to make are thrown, for the greater facility of reference, into a tabular form. ‘The New World is peculiarly adapted for researches of this kind; its two extremities, and almost every intermediate zone, are accessible, and, it is to be hoped, will hereafter be minutely investigated for the purposes of natural science. When accurate lists of the resident birds in each region, and of the summer and winter visiters, are obtained, many highly interesting and unex- pected deductions will doubtless be made, and much theoretical reasoning exploded. The Prince of Musignano has performed a great service to science in furnishing such a list for the neighbour- hood of Philadelphia +, of which we have availed ourselves in the construction of the following table. Had it been in our power to have drawn up an equally complete list for the Fur-countries, the general movements of the feathered tribes through North America would have been rendered apparent. Birds are usually divided into migratory and resident, though com- paratively few in the Fur-countries are strictly entitled to the latter appellation. The Raven and Canadian and Short-billed Jays are, indeed, the only species which we recognized as being equally nume- * The announcement at this period of two editions of Wilson’s inimitable work, by different editors, at a price which will place them within the reach of every ornithologist, was a further induce- ment to us to abstain from borrowing from it. + Specchio Comparativo delle Ornitologie di Roma e di Filadelfia, di C. L. Bonaparte, Principe di Musignano. Pisa. 1827. Cc XVIil INTRODUCTION. rous at their breeding-places in winter as in summer; and they pair and begin to lay eggs in the month of March,—nearly three months earlier than any other bird in those quarters. The distribution of the migratory and resident birds is evidently governed, as far as climate is concerned, by very different laws. The winter temperature, regulating the depth and duration of the snow and ice, and consequently the supply of vegetable productions, insects or fish at that season exerting a principal influence on the number of resident birds, whose distribution may be considered as bearing much analogy to that of quadrupeds. While the influx of migratory birds into the northern regions for the purpose of rearing their young is more connected with the high summer temperature of those paral- lels, the mean annual heat, which is very low, being no criterion as to the number or variety of summer visiters *. | * The following Table gives a view of the temperatures of various stations in North America, the extremes being forty-five degrees of latitude apart. Our limits do not admit of the Table being more extended, but the reader who wishes to enter fully into the subject, may consult Dr. Lovell’s valuable tables, appended to the Narrative of Long’s Expedition to St. Peter’s River, from which the temperatures for Fort St. Philip and Philadelphia have been extracted, and the Edinburgh Philoso- phical Journal for April, 1825, or the Appendices to Sir Edward Parry’s and Sir John Franklin’s several Narratives, which furnished the materials for the rest of the Table. It may be observed, that the mean annual temperature decreases as we advance northwards 13° F. for each degree of latitude, while the decrease of mean heat in July does not exceed 1°. The three last lines are omitted in this calculation, as the observations recorded in them were made among fields of ice, which reduce the summer temperature greatly below what it is even a few miles inland. The snow is perpetual in no part of the Fur Countries, except on the elevated peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Position. | Mean temperature of the Air. —{ = | Mav. | Min. Pl nae. |p ming. [ERM | cl Seamer Piece | aceasta ne Ave Wile eam Gi ian neous Rat yal ie ivi H Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. Fort St. Philip 29 29 | 89 21 [70.07 |+82.89 |+54.08 [481-53 | +92.0 Philadelphia 3957| 75 9| .. [453.38 1-72.75 |129.77 |4+-75.32 | +87.0 Penetanguishene 44 48} 80 40| 600 4-45.28 [4-69.91 |4+-22.68 [4-73.15 | +92.0 Cumberland House 53 57 | 102 17 | 800 1432.01 +67.80 | —4.62 |+69.80 | +87.0 Fort Chipewyan 58 43 | 111 18 | 500 § +30.00 |+62.41 | +3.67 |+63.42 | +97.0 Fort Enterprise 64 0/113 6) 850 414.19 +51.71 |—23.03 |+53.20 | +-78.0 Fort Franklin 65 12 | 132 13 | 230 1+17.50 |-+50.40 |—16.81 |4+52.10 | +80.0 Winter Island 66 11 83 30 : +6.84 |435.00 |—24.96 |4+36.34 | +54.0 Igloolik 69 19 | 82 30 +2.20 |+34.63 |—26.76 |1+40.04 | +50.0 Melville Island 74 45] 111 0 ) —1.71 |436.44 |—33.02 |+42.41 | +60.0 INTRODUCTION. xX1x The nature of the country, whether prairie or wooded, rocky and barren, or marshy, must also be taken into account in all speculations on the distribution of the feathered tribes. Several of the Grallatores, for instance, that feed by thrusting their bills into soft marshy soil, frequent the Saskatchewan prairies only in spring, and as soon as the warm and comparatively early summer renders the soil dry and unfit to yield them support, they retire to their breeding-quarters in the Arctic lands. There, the frozen sub-soil acted upon by the rays of a sun constantly above the horizon, keeps the surface wet and spongy during the two short summer months which suffice these birds for rearing their young. ‘This office performed, they depart to the south- ward, and halt in the autumn on the flat shores of Hudson’s Bay, which, owing to accumulations of ice drifted into the Bay from the northward, are kept in a low temperature all the summer, and are not thawed to the same extent with the more interior Arctic lands before the beginning of autumn. They quit these haunts on the setting in of the September frosts, and passing along the coasts of the United States, retire within the Tropics in the winter. Many species, which are purely summer visiters of the high lati- tudes, are resident within certain parallels of the United States, de- tachments advancing to the north in the spring for the purpose of rearing their young and retiring to the south of the resident stations in winter. It is obviously very difficult to ascertain whether the individuals of these species which breed in the higher latitudes are the same that retire farthest southwards in winter, those remaining in the intermediate districts in winter being the pairs which bred there, though from analogy we are led to think that such is the case. Of the strictly resident birds in Europe it is known that many (the House-Sparrow, for instance) shelter themselves in winter in their nests and summer haunts; and of the migratory ones, the same pair have been observed to build several successive seasons in the same spot. Some species seem to claim a right of property within a certain beat, chasing away with great pertinacity all the other birds that they can master. In the instance also of the Falconide and some other C2 XX INTRODUCTION. tribes, which present a marked difference in the plumage of the old and young, we observe that the latter are expelled by their parents from the breeding-places, and appear both in summer and winter in districts which none of the old birds visit. From a consideration of these and similar facts, we are inclined to believe that, of the species which are found all the year within certain parallels, the younger individuals make the widest excursions in search of food or proper breeding places, and that, as their strength is matured by age, they fill up the casual vacancies which occur in the districts best adapted for their constant residence. A number of species, which rear two or more broods within the United States, raise only one in the Fur-countries, the shortness of the summer not admitting of their doing more. The Passenger Pigeons do not visit the Fur-countries, where they breed, until after they have reared a brood, and quitted the breeding-places in Ken- tucky. It is probable that some other birds also breed in succession in different districts; and it is even possible that a few of the Falco- nide and some species of certain families of Grallatores, after spending the short summer of a high northern latitude in rearing one family, may gain a similar climate in the southern hemisphere for the purpose of rearing another brood, passing, of course, nearly one half of the year in the transit to and from these breeding-places *. This hint is thrown out as simply conjectural; but, in the families to which I allude, seldom more than two young are produced at a * T have several times, when cruizing between Minorca and Sardinia, seen large flocks of Swal- lows, attended by great numbers of Hawks and a very small species of Owl, holding a direct course from the coast of Africa towards the Gulf of Lyons. From the direction of their flight, it did not appear that they could have rested on any part of the islands I have just mentioned; so that the traverse they attempted was full seven degrees of latitude. Both Swallows and birds of prey appeared much tired, and settled for several days on the masts and yards of all the ships of the fleet, from whence vast numbers were taken by the crews. Having no acquaintance whatever with Orni- thology at the time, I do not know the species of the small Owl, but I have a distinct recollection of its being no bigger than a Sparrow; and in this I can scarcely be mistaken, as I kept one for nearly a week before it made its escape. It was fed on Swallows, which it invariably strangled by grasping them by the neck with one foot. Ifa bird of this size can cross such an expanse of sea at one flight, the greatness of the distance to be traversed, according to the supposition in the text, does not seem to be of itself a sufficient reason for rejecting the hypothesis, particularly if the length of time occupied in the passage and the long halts at the various resting-places be considered. INTRODUCTION. XX1 time, which would seem scarcely sufficient to supply the waste by the numerous casualties which occur, unless more than one brood were raised in the year. Captain King found several northern birds in the Straits of Magellan. A large proportion of the migratory birds arrive in the higher lati- tudes in flocks, but disperse in pairs soon afterwards ; and some, as the Emberiza nivalis and Lapponica, which winter within the limits of the Fur-countries, assemble during that season in large flocks, but separate when they reach their breeding-places. Parus atricapillus and Linaria minor live in small families in the winter only; the Tetraonide form coveys of ten or twelve in summer and the middle of winter, but make their spring and autumn movements to and from their breeding-places in great assemblages. The Corvus corax con- gregates only in the pairing season, in the beginning of March, when as many as fifteen or twenty may be seen together for a few days, until each has chosen a mate. Many of the Sturnide, the Columba megra- tora, and Pelecanus onocrotalus fly in dense flocks all the summer. The Hirundinide and Laride breed in societies, and hunt for their food in numbers together; but they do not appear to move in con- certed flights, like the birds we have last mentioned. The Anatide, again, feed together, but generally make their nests in remote and solitary spots. The following Table requires no explanation. The fourth column is taken from the Prince of Musignano’s work above ailuded to (p. xvii.), and the fifth column is filled up on the authority of that naturalist, Wilson, Audubon, and some others. A partial analysis of this Table is given in the succeeding ones. Xxil INTRODUCTION. TABLE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna. Distribution in the Fur-countries, Whether resident or migratory. No. VULTURID&, p. l. Lat. Ne 1 Sarcoramphus Californianus . . | 49° West of Rocky Mountains : : . migr. 2 Cathartesaura ss. : 2 54 Plains of Saskatch. and Columbia : mig. 3 3 atratus 3 : . | 48 West of Rocky Mountains ‘ : . migr. FALCONIDE, p. 8. 4 Aquila chrysaéta . : : 66 Onand near Rocky Mountains. : migr. 5 » (Halizeétus) leucocephala . | 62 Across the continent ; common : . mgr. 6 4, (Pandion) halieéta . : 60 East of Rocky Mountains : : migr. 7 Falco peregrinus : “ . | 74 Across the continent . c . . migr. 8 ,, Islandicus . : : 74 East of Rocky Mountains 6 : resid. 9 ,, sparverius : . . | 56 Acrossthecontinent . 3 F . mgr. 10 +,, columbarius ; . 66? East of Rocky Mountains . B : migr. 11 +4, esalon . : A oa Ditto 5 . ‘ . mgr. 12 Accipiter (Astur) palumbarius : 68 Across the continent; common ., A resid. 13 3 4 Pennsylvanicus - | 49 Ditto rare O° : . mgr. 14 Buteo vulgaris. : . 58 Ditto : c : . mig. 154, borealis . . - e | Ge Ditto c : : . mgr. 16 ,, lagopus . . : 68 East of Rocky Mountains . : : migr. 17. ,, + (Circus) cyaneus : - | 68 Ditto (Young in high latitudes) . migr. STRIGIDH, p. 71. 18 Strix otus . . : . 60 East of Rocky Mountains; interior : resid. 19 4, brachyota 5 f . | 67 Across the continent . ) A . mgr. 20 4, cinerea : : B 68 Ditto : ; resid. 21 4, nebulosa 3 i - | 53 James's Bay 5 é : oo 22 ,, (Bubo) Virginiana . x 68 Across the continent; common . ; resid. BY «ie » aretica . : . | 53 Saskatchewan plains . : 7 . resid. 24 ~«4, nyctea : : 5 75 Across the continent é A & resid. 25 ,, funerea “ : - | 68 Ditto common : . resid. 26 4, Tengmalmi . c : 60 East of Rocky Mountains ; common , resid. 27 »,, -Acadica . : : - | 50 New Caledonia 2 : : . resid, . Laniap&, p. 105. 28 Lanius borealis. : é 60. East of Rocky Mountains : partly resid. 29 4, excubitorides . 4 . | 54 Ditto : F ; . migr. 30 » elegans : : 5 : F : b : —— 31 Tyrannus intrepidus . i . | 57 East of Rocky Mountains i ; . mgr. 52 borealis . : 53 Ditto A ; : migr. 33 Tyrannula Saya 2 5 a | Ditto (Breeds on the Arkansas) migr. 34 > pusilla : : 56 Ditto 9 d 0 migr. 35 Py Richardsonii : . | 60 Interior districts ditto . : : . mgr. MERULID, p. 149. 36 Cinclus Americanus ; . 50 Rocky Mountains; common , : mig. 37 Merula migratoria c : . | 67 Across the continent . : : . migr. 38 ,, minor c 5 : ‘54 East of Rocky Mountains . : 0 migr. 39, Wilsonii : A . | 55 Ditto : ; : . mgr. 40...) solitania a : ; 50 Ditto ; 5 migr. Species observed on the Saskatchewan, lat. 53° to 54° N., and from 600 to 1000 miles distant from the sea-coast. No. 2 In Summer only. Scarce 4 Summer. Rare; accid. . 5 Ditto Common . 6 Ditto Rare 7 Spr. and Aut. Of passage 8 . é : 9 Summer. Common 10 Ditto Rare 11 Ditto (Breeds.) Not com. Freq. in Sum. 12 All the year. 13 ; A 6 14 Summer. Not comm. 15 Ditto Comm. 16 Ditto do. 17. Ditto Very comm. 18 All the year. Comm. 19 Summer. Very comm. 20 All the year. Comm. 21 Not seen by us 22 All the year. Comm. 23 Ditto Very rare 24 Winter. Accid. 25 All the year. ‘Comm. 26 Ditto do. 27 Not seen by us . 28 All the year. 29 Summer. Comm. 30 . . 31 Summer. Comm. 32 Ditto One specim. 33 Ditto do. 34 Spring. Of passage 35 Do. Of passage ? 36 37 Summer. Very comm. 38 Summer? Breeds? 39 Ditto 400% Com. in Sum. INTRODUCTION. Species that frequent the vicinity of Philadelphia, lat. 40° N. (Bonaparte. ) In Summer. Comm. Ditto Accidental visiter . Very rare ; accid. visiter Resident. Comm. Summer. do. 5 b Winter. Accid. visiter Resid. Comm. : Pass. Spr. and Aut. Not uncom. Rare Comm. Resid. Very comm. Winter. Comm. a Do. Yng.very com. (Old accid.) Resid. Comm. : O Winter. Very comm. Resid. Comm. Do. Rare Winter. Accid. Do. do. Winter. Very rare Winter. Rare Summer. Very comm. Winter. Very comm.; a few res. , Summer. Not rare Ditto Comm. Winter-quarters of the Species, California 5 é Southern States, South Amer. Ditto ? ditto Southern States . Towards the Tropics Louisiana North of 54° ; West Indies, Mexico, S. Calif. Mexico . : O Fur-countries, North. States California, South. States South California 5 United States, Mexico, Calif. Middle States. 5 South. States Mid. and South. States, Calif. Fur-countries Fur-countries, Unit. St., Calif. Ditto Between 67° and 55° Fur-countries to Middle States Ditto Canada New Caledonia, North. States Fur-countr., Canada, Mid. St. Towards the Tropics Mexico . iB . Midd. and South. States, Calif. South. States Ditto : Ditto : XXIll 111 115 144 173 176 179 182 184 XXIV INTRODUCTION. TABLE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna. Distribution in the Fur-countries. Whether resident or migratory. No. MERULID&, continued. Lat. N. 41 Orpheus meruloides 66° Great Bear Lake and North-west coast migr. 42 s rufus 54 East of Rocky orang 5 migr. 43 felivox 54 Ditto migr. SYLVIADA, p. 200. 44 Erythaca (Sialia) arctica 65 East of Rocky Mountains migr 45 ek ., Wilsonii 48 Ditto 6 . mgr. 46 Sylvicola estiva 68 Across the continent migr. 47 , maculosa 55 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 48 x petechia 55 Ditto migr. 49 fe coronata 56 Across the continent . migr. 50 re striata. , 54 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 51 es (Vermivora) rubricapilla 55 Ditto : mgr. 52 ¥5 BS peregrina 55 Ditto mignr. 53 Setophaga ruticilla 58 Ditto » mgr. 54 _ Bonapartii x" A 55 Ditto migr. 55 Parus atricapillus é 3 65 Across the continent resid 56 Seiurus aurocapillus 55 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 57 » aquaticus 60? Ditto migr. 58 Anthus aquaticus . ; 60? Prairie district 0 migr AMPELID&, p. 232, 59 Vireo olivaceus 55 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 60.555.) Bantvamiu 9 49 West of ditto mgr. 61 Bombycilla garrula 67 Rocky Mountains and Gree Bear ace . mgr. 62 cs Americana 56 Middle Prairie districts ‘ migr. FRINGILLIDA, p. 241 63 Alauda calandra 58 Hudson's Bay : . mig. 64 4, ~—- cornuta 69 East of Rocky Mountains; in flocks migr. 65 Emberiza (Plectrophanes) Bete 75 Arctic coasts, in summer a 66 Bs ns Lapponica 70 Ditto . 6 migr. 67 my = picta By ; ; , migr. 68 3 pallida 55 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 69 - Canadensis . : 60 Across the continent migr. 70 Fringilla (Zonotrichia) graminea 57 Prairies E. of Rocky Mountains migr. 7A ra 3 leucophrys 68 East of Rocky Mountains ; common migr. 72 - BS Pennsylvanica 66 Ditto ditto migr. 73 33 53 iliaca 68 Ditto migr. 74 » hyemalis : 57 Middle Prairie district migr. 75 Pyrgita (Pipilo) arctica. . 55 Saskatchewan prairies . : migr. 76 Pyrrhula (Corythus) enucleator 60 East of Rocky Mountains; scarce . resid 77 Loxia leucoptera . c 68 Across the continent resid 78 Fringilla purpurea 55 Ditto not common migr. 79 Linaria (Leucosticte) eonmcotis 54 East of Rocky Mountains —— SO) INO Ga ‘ 68 Across the continent 6 resid, 81 Carduelis Americana 60 Ditto migr. INTRODUCTION. XXV I, (continued.) Species observed on the Saskatchewan, Species that frequent the vicinity Page lat. 58° to 54° N., and from 600 to 1000 of Philadelphia, lat, 40° N. Winter-quarters of the Species. of the miles distant from sea-coast. (Bonaparte. ) Fanna. : ; : . : 3 . | California. 187 42 Summer f Allthe Summer. Comm. . South. States 189 43 Ditto Ditto. do. - | Florida, New Orleans 192 44 ( 0 O r setlies : 209 Ale : .- | Allthe Summer. Comm. . South. States 210 46 Summer. Very common Ditto. do. - | Towards the Tropics 211 47 Ditto. Comm. - | Pass. Spr. and Aut. Rare Ditto ? 213 4§ Ditto. Not comm. Summer. Extremely rare - | South. States 215 49 Ditto. Not uncomm. Pass. Spr. and Aut. Very com. Ditto, Calif. 216 50 Ditto. cC Do. Ditto. Notveryrare | Ditto? or towards the Tropics? | 218 Sie itto: v- 5 Do. Spring. Very rare . Ditto? ditto ? 220 52 Ditto. 5 F ; 5 : Towards the Tropics 221 53 Ditto. Very comm. Summer. Comm. 0 West Indies y 223 54 Ditto. 3 é Pass. Spr.and Aut. Not comm. | Towards the Tropics ? 225 55 All the year. Verycomm. | Allthe year. Very comm. . Fur-countries, United States . | 226 56 Summer. Not uncomm. Summer. Comm. é - | Mexico, West Indies 297 57 Spring. Of passage . Pass. Spr.and Aut. Rather rare | Ditto : : 229 58 Ditto. do. ? flocks | Winter. Notrare . 3 Middle and South. States 231 59 Summer A : Spr., Summ., and Aut. Comm. | South. St.? Towards Tropics? | 233 Ones. 3 5 5 California ? i ‘ 235 61 Spr. and Aut. Of passage | . : 5 : Mexico ? or farther south ? 237 62 Summer . 5 . | Summer. In flocks. Comm. South. St., Mexico, Cayenne 239 63 : cS 5 ¢ . 244 64 Spring. Of passage Winter. Very comm. ; : ; : 245 65 Early in Spr., latein Aut. Do. Do. Rare . 5 - | South of 54° middle of Winter | 246 66 Spr.and Aut. Ditto . Dorn 0s ditto 248 67 Ditto. do. 2 250 68 Summer. Comm. : 5 ; 6 4 ‘ 3 251 69 Spr. and Aut. Of passage . | Winter. Comm. : - | United States, Calif. 252 70 Summer. Comm. Resid. do. ; ° Middle and South. States 254 71 Ditto. do. . - | Winter. Very rare . - | North. States : 255 72 Ditto. do. . Resid. Comm. , j Middle and South. States 256 73 Ditto. Arriyein flocks. | Winter. do. . c : Ditto ditto 9 257 74 Ditto. Rare Do. Extremely comm. . Ditto ditto S. Calif. | 259 75 Ditto. Notrare eae : ‘5 : 6 : é 5 260 76 All the year. Scarce . Winter. Accid. visiter. : Fur-countries, United States . | 262 77 Ditto. Do. Rare . i Ditto North. States 263 78 Summer. Not comm. Do. Not very rare : South. States , - | 264 79 One specimen : Ball aes : é ¥ ; 5 P . 265 80 All the year. Abund. In large flocks, at uncert. periods | Fur-countries, Canada . | 267 81 Summer. Comm. Almost resid. Very comm. - | Mexico . . 268 d XXV1 INTRODUCTION. TABLE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna. Distribution in the Fur-countries. Whether resident or migratory. No. FRINGILLIDA, continued. Lat. N. 82 Coccothraustes vespertina : . | 56° Prairies E. of Rocky Mountains : . mgr. 83 (Guiraca) Ludoviciana 55 Ditto ditto : 6 migr. 84 Pyranga rubra : : - | 49 Ditto ditto 6 . mgr. STURNIDA, p. 275. 85 Molothrus pecoris . : . 56 East of Rocky Mountains 6 é mgr. 86 Dolichonyx oryzivorus : «| 54 Ditto . migr. 87 Agelaius phoeniceus : : 57 Across the continent é : . migr. 88 », xanthocephalus : - | 58 East of Rocky Mountains ; : . migr. 89 Sturnella Ludoviciana 2 é 56 Across the continent in prairies. 3 migr. 90 Icterus Baltimore é c . | 55 East of Rocky Mountains : : . migr. 91 Quiscalus versicolor Z : 57 Ditto in large flocks . migr. 92 Scolephagus ferrugineus : . | 68 Ditto generally spread . mgr. CorviD&, p. 288. 93 Corvus corax é ; : 75 Across the continent; common . : resid. 94 »» corone é i . | 55 East of Rocky Mountains; in flocks . . migr. 95 » pica : : ; 58 Interior districts both sides of Rocky Mountains resid. 96 Garrulus cristatus : : . | 56 East of Rocky Mountains; common migr. 97 fs Stelleri . : - 56 W. of Rocky Mountains & Saskatchewan teas migr. 98 . Canadensis . i . | 65 Across the continent ; , . resid. 99 oH brachyrhynchus ; 68 North of Great Slave Lake 4 : resid. Picip@, p. 298. 100 Picus (Dryotomus) pileatus. . | 63 Across the continent . c : - resid. 101 ,, (Dendrocopus) villosus 7 63 Ditto . ; : resid. 02a pubescens «158 Ditto : : ‘ . resid. 103°), ,; 3 varius : 61 East of Rocky Mountains 5 migr. 104 -—,,_~—« (Apternus) tridactylus . | 68 Rocky Mountains and East districts c . resid. 105, 3 arcticus ‘ 56 Ditto i ‘4 ; . resid. 106 Colaptes auratus é : . | 61 East of Rocky Mountains i b . migr. 107 AS Mexicanus : é 49 West of ditto A 4 A migr. 108 Melanerpes erythrocephalus_ . . | 50 Prairies East and West of ditto : . mgr. CERTHIADZ, p. 316. 109 Troglodytes don 5 c 57 East of Rocky Mountains; rare . : migr. 110 hyemalis 4 . | 50 Ditto do. : . mgr. 111 De palustris : . 55 Ditto do. . . migr. TROCHILIDE, Pp. 321. 112 Trochilus colubris . : - | 57 East of Rocky Mountains ; rare : - migr. 113 4 (Selasphorus) rufus d 61 West of ditto i : ; 2 migr. HIiIRuUNDINIDZ, p. 326. 114 Hirundo bicolor : b - | 60 East of Rocky Mountains ‘ : - mgr. 115 », Americana : . 68 Ditto : : ; migr. 116 », lunifrons 4 4 - | 67 Ditto 5s ; . mgr. 117 sn tiparia, |. i 2 68 Ditto ‘ 2 5 migr. 118 » purpurea 5 : . | 67 Ditto i : . migr. Cypselus pelasgius* ¢ é 49 Ditto ; : 3 migr. * We did not observe this species, and it is not noticed in the text; but Mr. Say observed it at INTRODUCTION. XXVIl I. continued. Species observed on the Saskatchewan, Species that frequent the vicinity Page lat. 53° to 54° N., and from 600 to 1000 of Philadelphia, lat. 40° N. Winter-quarters of the Species, of the miles distant from the sea-coast. (Bonaparte.) Fauna. No. 82 Latein Summ. Not com. | . , ; : ; ; ; 269 83 Summer. Rare . Winter. Accid. visiter North., Mid., and West. States | 271 84 } ; : Summer. Not very rare Gulf of Mexico? 273 85 Summer. Not uncom. Summer. In flocks; common Southern States, Mexico 277 86 Ditto. Comm. Pass. In large flocks. Spr. & Aut. | Table-land of Mexico (Sw.) 278 87 Ditto. In large flocks. | Summer. In flocks Southern States, Mexico, Calif. | 280 88. Ditto. ditto a , : Mexico, South America ? 281 89 Ditto. Comm. Resid. Very comm. Mid. and South. States, Calif. | 282 90 — Ditto. do. Summer. Comm. Within the Tropics ? 284 91 Ditto. In flocks Ditto. In flocks Florida, Louis., Mexico 285 92 Ditto. In pairs Ditto. do. South. States 286 93 All the year. Comm. Resid. Rare Resid. Fur-countries & U.S. | 290 94 Summer. In flocks . Do. Very comm. United States : 291 95 All the year. Freq.inSum. A : Missouri, Fur-c., Columbia R. | 293 96 Summer. Comm. Resid. Comm. Middle and South. States 293 97 Ditto. do. North Calif. : 294 98 Allthe year. do. Resid. Fur-countries, Canada | 295 99, Do. North of Fur-countries | 296 100 All the year. Rare Resid. Rare Resid. Fur-c., U. S., Mexico 304 101 Ditto. Comm. Do. Comm. Do. do. do. do. Calif, | 305 102. ~— Ditto. do. Do. Very comm. Do. do. do. 307 103 Summer. Arr. in flocks . Do. Comm. United States 309 104 All the year. Comm. 2 . Fur-countries 311 Mar . . ; : é Ditto 313 106 Summer. Comm.on plains | Resid. Very comm. United States 314 107 : Mexico, Calif, 315 108 3 Resid. Comm. South. States 316 109 Summer. Rare Summer. Comm. West Indies ? : 316 110 5 Winter. do. Middle and South. States 318 111 Summer. Rare Summer. do. Florida, Louisiana 319 112 Summer. Rare Summer. Comm. Mexico . . 323 IVS <2 . Table-land of Mexico 324 114 Summer. Comm. . Summer. Comm. Louisiana : $28 115 Ditto. do. é Ditto. Very comm. Visits the Trops. mid. of Wint. | 329 116 7 c 5 . ‘ ” F 331 117 Summer. Comm Summer. Comm. Not in United States 333 118 Ditto. do. Ditto. Very comm. South America, Brazil (Sw.) 335 2 C Ditto. do. Pembina, on the Red River, on the boundary-line between the American and British Fur-countries. d 2 XXVIII INTRODUCTION. TABLE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna. Distribution in the Fur-countries. Whether resident or migratory. No. CAPRIMULGID&, p. 336. Lat. N. 119 Caprimulgus vociferus . . | 48° East of Rocky Mountains migr. 120 . (Chordeiles) Virginianus 68 Ditto common migr. HALcyonip&, p. 339. 121 Alcedo aleyon 67 Across the continent ‘ - migr. TETRAONIDA, p. 341. 122 Tetrao umbellus 56 East of Rocky Mountains resid. 123 » obscurus 64 Rocky Mountains, 64° to 40° resid. 124 ,, Canadensis 68 East of Rocky Mountains resid. 125 » Franklinii 58 Rocky Mountains - resid. 126 ~=,,_~—« (Lagopus) mutus 70? Baffin’s Bay : —— 127 y Ms saliceti 70 Across the continent . 5 — 128 ap ‘D rupestris i 75 Ditto : 3 — 29% Ts: 3 leucurus 64 Rocky Mountains, 64° to 54° resid. 130 », (Centrocercus) urophasianus 48 West of Rocky Mountains resid. 131 3 Ke phasianellus 61 Across the continent . 5 resid. CoLuMBID&, p. 363. 132 Columba migratoria. 62 Across the continent migr. GRALLATORES, p. 366. 133 Calidris arenaria 60 Hudson's Bay migr. 134 Charadrius semipalmatus . 70 Across the continent migr. 135 a vociferus 56 Ditto migr. 136 és pluvialis 75 Ditto common migr. 137 Vanellus melanogaster 70 Ditto : : . migr. 138 Strepsilas interpres 75 Hudson’s Bay, Arctic Coasts, & Behring’s Straits migr. 139 Grus Americana 6 68 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 140 +,, Canadensis . 68 Ditto ; 3 migr. 141 Ardea Herodias 50 Red River plains migr. 142 ~,, ~~ lentiginosa 58 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 143 Recurvirostra Americana 55 Interior Prairie district migr. 144 Numenius longirostris 52 Across the continent migr. 145 a Hudsonicus 60 Ditto migr. 146 ar borealis 70 Ditto migr. 147 Tringa Douglasii 60 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 148 ~,, himantopus 58 Ditto migr. 149 4, semipalmata 60 Ditto é migr. 150 ~,, ~+=—maritima 74 Ditto common migr. 151 » alpina 75 Ditto do. migr. 152 ,, Schinzii 55 Ditto interior prairies mgr. 153 >» minuta 60 Ditto common : migr. 154 ~—,,_~_— pusilla 68 Ditto do. . - migr. 155 » cinerea 5 : 18 Ditto do. mgr. 156 Totanus semipalmatus ; : 56 Ditto interior prairies migr. 157 » vociferus 6 60 Ditto common 4 migr. 158 », flavipes 4 70 Ditto do. 4 - mgr. 1. continued. Species observed on the Saskatchewan, lat. 53° to 54° N., and from 600 to 1000 miles distant from the sea-coast. No. PES: : 120 Summer. Comm. 121 Summer. Comm. 122 All the year. Very comm. 123 Ditto Comm. 124 Ditto do. . 125 Ditto do. 126 : ; : 127 Winter only. Migr. 128 129 = 130 é . . 13] All the year. Very comm. 132 Summer. In small flocks sd. 2 134 Pass. Spring 135 Summer. Comm. 136 Pass. Spr.& Aut. Comm. 137 Summer. Rare 138 ; 139 Summer. Comm. 140 Ditto do. 141 : é 142 Summer. Comm. 143 Ditto Verycom.on plns. 144 : 145 Pass. Spring 146 Do. do. 147 Summer. Not comm. 148 HA9G> . - 150 Pass. Spring 151 Do. do. 152 Summer. Comm. Sse: C ‘ 154 Pass. Spring. Comm. 155 C E 156 Summer. Comm. 157 Ditto do. 158 Ditto do. INTRODUCTION. - Species that frequent the vicinity of Philadelphia, lat. 40° N. Summer. Ditto Summer. (Bonaparte. ) Not rare Very comm. Very comm. Winter. Comm. Summer. Exceedingly numerous Sea beaches. Comm. Pass. Spr. and Aut. Nearly resid. Very comm. Winter. Not very rare . Most num. in Wint. Very comm. Pass. Spr.and Aut. Somewt. rare Accid. visiter Summer. Ditto Comm. Not rare Accid. visiter : Pass. Spr. and Aut. Comm. Do. do. Accid. visiter Comm. do. Pass. Autumn. Rare Do. Spr. and Aut. Comm. Pass. Spr. and Aut. Comm. Do. Aut. Dos = "doy Rares: Do. Spr. and Aut. Do. do. Do. do. Summer. Comm. Ditto do. Somewhat rare Comm. Somew. rare Comm. Winter-quarters of the Species, Not in United States Ditto S. St., Mex., Calif., with. Trops. From lat. 56° to Gulf of Mex. Rocky Mountains Fur-countries, North. States . Rocky Mountains 8 Fur-c., betw. 66° & 50°, woods Do. betw. 68° & 55°, Rocky Mountains do. California, Columbia River Fur-countries, North-west St. Kentucky, South. States United States South. States ? South Calif. . United States, Calif. 8. St., within the Tropics South. and Mid. States S. St., or within the Tropics ? Do.? or towards the Tropics Do. Mexico Mid. and South. States South. States Within the Tropics South. States ? Towards Trops. Ditto, or farther south Within the Tropics, Brazil Towards the Tropics ? South. States Ditto S. St., and within the Tropics South. St., within the Trops. ? Ditto Ditto ditto ditto XX1X Page of the Fauna, 351 354 358 361 XXX INTRODUCTION. TABLE a EE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna, Distribution in the Fur-countries. Whether resident or migratory. No. GRALLATORES, continued. Lat. N. 159 Totanus calidris : 7 . | 58° Hudson’s Bay. . : - * mages 160 » Bartramius : : 55 East of Rocky Mountains : f - migr. 161 », ochropus : : - | 58 Hudson’s Bay. P : migr. 162 » cehloropygius é ¢ 68 East of Rocky Moustaing : 5 . mgr. 163 Limosa fedoa . . - | 68 Ditto common . migr. 164 », Hudsonica : - 68 Ditto : . migr. 165 Scolopax Novoboracensis : mad) Ditto c migr. 166 3 Drummondii : : 65 Rocky Mountains and aster diner . mgr. 167 3 Wilsonii : : . | 55 Hudson's Bay. ‘ ; 4 migr. 168 Rallus Novoboracensis. : 57 Ditto ¢ : ; - mgr. 169 4, Carolinus : ; . | 62 East of Rocky Monntaine : ; migr. 170 Fulica Americana : : 55 Across the continent . : : . migr. 171 Phalaropus Wilsonii . : . | 55 East of Rocky Mountains : he mgr. 172 . hyperboreus. : 75 Ditto : 6 6 migr. 173 . fulicarius . ; . | 75 Across the continent : Rat: . migr. NaraTores, p. 410. 174 Podiceps cristatus ; : 68 East of Rocky Mountains ; ; migr. 175 5 rubricollis . , . | 68 Ditto ‘ ‘ . migr. 176 * cornutus : ; 68 Ditto ; : : migr. 177 5 Carolinensis : a2, Ditto : ‘ - mgr. 178 Sterna hirundo 5 5 57 Ditto common F migr. 179 +~«4 aretica 3 3 calea: Ditto do. . . mgr. 180) ;, nigra : : : 60 Ditto verycommon . migr. 181 Larus glaucus i : I) 7/6) Ditto common : - mgr. 182 ,, argentatoides : : 75 Ditto do. 6 migr. 183 ,, leucopterus ; F Paap Ditto do. é . mgr. 184 ,, eburneus. : ; 75 Ditto local : . migri 1853" ,;, .canus) | > : F a Al Ditto do. : : migr. 186 ,, zonorhynchus ; é 56 Ditto dos = ‘ . migr. 187. 4, brachyrhynchus : . | 68 Ditto do. : ; migr. 188 ,, tridactylus ; F 74 Across the continent . : : - migr. 189 ,, Franklinii ‘ " . | 56 East of Rocky Mountains : . migr. 190 ,, Bonapartii : ; 70 Ditto frequent : - migr. 191 ~,,. minutus j 2 65 Ditto rare 0 : mgr. 192°) 5, Rossi i f : 82 Melville Peninsula; rare ; : . migr. 193. ,,. + ‘Sabinii . : . | 74 Across the continent ; . ; migr. 194 Lestris pomarina . : : 75 Hudson’s Bay, Arctic Seas. - mgr. 195 ,, parasitica : : - | 75 Arctic sea-coasts and Hudson's Bay, &e. : migr. 196 ,, Richardsonii é é 67 Barren districts ; common : ; migr. ANATIDA, p. 435. 197 Anas clypeata : : . | 70 Across the continent ; numerous : - mgr. 198 ,, (Chauliodus) strepera , 68 Kast of Rocky Mountains 3 : migr. 199 ,, (Dafila) caudacuta 6 . | 70 Ditto very common - mgr. 200 ,, (Boschas) domestica : 68 Across the continent : A : migr. No. 159 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 I. continued. Species observed on the Saskatchewan, lat. 53° to 54° N., and from 600 to 1000 miles distant from the sea-coast. Summer. Comm. Ditto Abundant . Pass. Spr. and Aut. Summer. Comm. Ditto do. Summer. Abundant . Ditto Very comm. Ditto Not rare Pass. Spring. Rare Do. do. do. Summer. Comm. Ditto - Not comm. Ditto Very comm. Ditto Rare Ditto Comm. Pass. Spring. Not com. Summer. Very comm. Pass, Spr. and Aut. Com. Summer. Abundant Pass. Spr. and Aut. Com. Summer. Comm. Ditto Abundant Ditto do. Pass. Spr. and Aut. Rare Pass. Spr. and Aut. Rare Pass. Spr. & Aut. Very ¢. Summer. Comm. Spr. and Aut. Not rare . Summer. Comm. INTRODUCTION. of Philadelphia, lat. 40° N. (Bonaparte. ) 160 Summer. Com. on plains | Summer. Somewhat rare Pass. Spr. & Aut. Somewhat rare Winter . ditto Do. ? ditto ? Pass. Spr. and Aut. Comm. Winter. Very comm. Accid. visiter Summer and Aut. Abundant Comm. Accid. visiter Pass. Autumn. Winter. Winter. Accid. visiter Winter. Accid. visiter . Do. ditto Do. Young rather comm. Do. Principally young Summer. Pass. Comm. Winter. Not rare Comm. Winter. Accid. visiter Winter. Rather comm. Do. Rare . Do. Comm. Do. do. Species that frequent the vicinity (Breeds.) Comm. Autumn. Rather comm. Do. Comm., the young espec. Winter-quarters of the Species. Southern States, S. America United States South. St., or towards Tropics South. St., or towards Tropics South. States, S. America Within the Tropics ? Ditto South. States, Calif. Mexico, S. America United States, Calif. South. States Ditto Middle States 4 Ditto South States Towards the Tropics Middle and South States Ditto ditto Middle and South. States Middle and North. States Ditto ditto Ditto United States United States South California South. States Middle States United States, Mexico Mexican Lakes (Sw.) Ditto M. & S. St., Columb. R., Calif. S. Amer. XXX1 430 440 441 XXXI1 INTRODUCTION. TABLE Extreme northern range. Species, numbered as in the Fauna. Distribution in the Fur-countries. Whether resident or migratory. No. ANATIDE, continued. TatiNe 201 Anas (Boschas) crecca 70° Across the continent ; very abundant migr. 202 ” ” discors 58 Ditto mgr. 203 Mareca Americana 68 Ditto migr. 204 Dendronessa sponsa 54 Ditto migr. 205 Somateria spectabilis 75 On the east sea-coasts == 206 ee mollissima 75 Ditto ; —— 207 Oidemia perspicillata 72 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 208 FS fusca 72 Ditto migr. 209 ee Americana 62 Hudson's Bay migr. 210 Fuligula vallisneria 68 Across the continent migr. 211 » ferina 68 Ditto mgr. 212 » marila 68 Ditto 5 migr. 213 3, ~—- rufitorques 68 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 214 =, ~— rubida 58 Ditto migr. 215 Clangula vulgaris 68 Ditto migr. 216 =, ~— Barrovii 57 Rocky Mountains migr. 217, —g,_~—allbeola 68 Across the continent migr. 218 a3 histrionica 68 Ditto F migr. 219 Harelda glacialis 75 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 220 Mergus merganser 68 Across the continent migr. 221 » Serrator 68 Ditto migr. 222 » cucullatus 68 Ditto migr. 223 Cygnus buccinator - 68 Ditto migr. 224 =, Bewickii 75 Ditto : migr. 225 Anser albifrons 73 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 226 ,, hyperboreus 73 Across the continent migr. 227. +4, +Canadensis 70 Ditto : migr. 228 =, _ bernicla 73 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 229 ,, Hutchinsii : 69 Ditto migr. NATATORES, continued, p. 472. 230 Pelecanus onocrotalus 61 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 231 . (Carbo) dilophus 55 Ditto migr. 232 Colymbus glacialis 70 Across the continent migr. 233 %» arcticus 70 East of Rocky Mountains migr. 234 septentrionalis 74 Across the continent migr. 235 Uria troile 236 ~=~,,. ~Brunnickii 237 =, grylle 238 4, alle 61 Arctic Sea and Hudson's Bay 75 ~~ Ditto ditto 75 Ditto ditto 75 Ditto ditto I. continued. —————— ——____nEETEEIIIIIIIEITETITTITTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREERET EERETmEEEEEEEEEE oe Species observed on the Saskatchewan, lat. 53° to 54° N., and from 60 to 1000 miles distant from the sea-coast. No. 201 202 203 204 205 Summer. Abundant do. Comm. do. Rather comm. do. Rare Pass. Spr. & Aut. Note. do. do. Com. Summer. Comm. do. do. do. do. do. do. : do. Not uncomm. do. Very comm. Summer. Extremely com. do. Very rare Pass. Spr. & Aut. Abund. Summer. Comm. do. do. do. do. F Pass. Spr. & Aut. In flocks do. do. do. do. do. V. abun. do. do. do. Summer. Comm. 7 Pass. Spr. & Aut. Accident. do. do. In flocks Summer. In flocks do. Not comm. do. Comm. do. Rare i do. Not uncomm. INTRODUCTION. Species that frequent the vicinity of Philadelphia, lat. 40° N., (Bonaparte. ) Winter. Very comm. Summer. Comm. Winter. do. Summer. do. Winter. Accid. visiter do. Abund. do. Rare Winter. Rather comm. do. Very comm. ” tb) ° Pass. Spring. Not very rar -| Winter. Rather rare do. Frequent Winter. Very comm. Winter. Very comm. do. Notcomm. . do. Rare Winter. Accid. visiter do. do. do. Com. do. do. Accid. visiter Winter. Notrare . Winter. Young not rare Accid. visiter do. do. 6 Winter. Rather rare Winter-quarters of the Species. M. and §. St., towards Tropics Mexican St., Columb. R.., Calif. Middle and S. St., West Indies S. States, Mexico ? do. At sea, Coast of Labrador do. do. N. St. Canada, United States Middle States Middle States, Columbia River do. do. do. do. South. States do. Middle and South. States United States, Mexico, Calif. Middle and N. States, Canada United States do. South. States do. Middle States 2 Calif., a few on Columbia R. Mid. and S. St., 5 United States Middle States South. States Middle States . United States . c Principally at sea in high lats. do. do. do. do. United States XXXIll XXXIV INTRODUCTION. Taste II. The following is a List of Birds which are found at all seasons of the year in some district or other of the Fur Countriks. Fatconip#. Falco islandicus, Accipiter (Astur) palumbarius. Srricipm. Strix otus, S. cinerea, S. nebulosa, S. (Bubo) Virginiana, S. (B.) arctica, S. nyctea, S. funerea, S. Tengmalmi, S. Acadica. Lanrap#. Lanius borealis, L. excubitorides, L. elegans. Sytviap&. Parus atricapillus. Frincittip®. Emberiza (Plectrophanes) nivalis, E. (P.) Tapponice, Pyrrhula (Corythus) enucleator, Loxia leucoptera, Linaria minor. Corvip#. Corvus corax, C. pica, Garrulus Canadensis, G. brachyrhynchus. Picipv#. Picus (Dryotomus) pileatus, P. (Dendrocopus) villosus, P. (D.) pubescens, P. (Apternius) tridactylus, P. (A.) arcticus. Terraonip&, Tetrao umbellus, T. obscurus, T. Canadensis, T. Franklinii, T. (Lagopus) saliceti T. (L.) rupestris, T. (L.) leucurus, T. (Centrocercus) urophasianus, T. (C.) In all 38. phasianellus. As some of these, however, entirely quit their breeding stations in the winter and go southwards, they ought to be considered as migratory, although their range is comparatively limited. Thus the Lagopt quit the barren grounds, where they breed and seek shelter during winter in the more southerly wooded dis- tricts. The Plectrophanes breed on the Arctic coasts, and winter in the southern parts of the Fur Countries, migrating through eighteen or twenty degrees of latitude. Many of the Sirigide, the Laniade, and Picide, retire from the sea- coast into the denser parts of the woods in winter, some individuals, however, remaining all the year in their breeding quarters. Numbers also of the Parus atricapillus and Linaria minor remain in the severest seasons in all parts of the Fur Countries ; but in some winters, at uncertain intervals, they appear in large flocks within the territory of the United States. Somateria mollissmma and S. spectabilis, and Uria Brunnichii, U. troile, and U. grylle, ought also to be reckoned among the birds that winter in high latitudes, as many remain all the winter wherever they can find open water, although they also visit the coasts of the United States in that season in smaller numbers. INTRODUCTION. XXXV Taste_e III. List of Species of which considerable numbers are resident all the year in the Fur Countrits, but of which detachments (mostly young birds?) visit the United States in winter. Fatconipz. Accipiter (Astur) palumbarius ? Srricip#. Strix funerea, St. nyctea. Lantap#. Lanius borealis. Frinerttipz. Emberiza (Plectrophanes) nivalis, E. (P.) Lapponica, Pyrrhula (Corythus) enucleator, Loxia leucoptera, Linaria minor (visits the United States in some winters only). Corvipz. Garrulus Canadensis. Corvus pica (Missouri in winter). Anatip£. Somateria mollissima.—This and the three following species keep the sea in the higher latitudes, a few individuals only resorting to the coasts of the United States. Axcap#. Uria troile, U. Brunnichii, U. grylle. In all 15. Tasie IV. List of Species which are RESIDENT ALL THE YEAR both in the Fur Countries and in PENNSYLVANIA. Stricipz. Strix otus, St. nebulosa? St. (Bubo) Virginiana. Syrtviap#. Parus atricapillus. Corvipz. Corvus Corax. Picipz. Picus (Dryotomus) pileatus, P. (Dendrocopus) villosus, P. (D.) pubescens. 8. TABLE V. List of Species which are RESIDENT ALL THE YEAR in PENNSYLVANIA, and visit the Fur CounTRIES in SUMMER ONLY. Fatconipz. Aquila (Halizétus) leucocephala, Falco sparverius, Accipiter Pennsylvanicus ? Buteo borealis. Merutipz. Merula migratoria. Only a few summer in Pennsylvania. Frineicuipz. Fringilla (Zonotrichia) graminea, F. (Z.) Pennsylvanica. Sturnipz. Sturnella Ludoviciana. Corvipz. Corvus corone, Garrulus cristatus. Picipz. Picus (Dendrocopus) varius, Colaptes auratus. Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Gratiatores. Charadrius vociferus (seen nearly the whole year near Philadelphia), Va- In all 15, nellus melanogaster. € 2 XXXV1 INTRODUCTION. Taste VI. List of Species which merely wintER in PENNSYLVANIA, and migrate in suMMER to rear their young in the Fur Countrigs. Fatconip&. Falco peregrinus, Buteo lagopus, Buteo (Circus) cyaneus (young only). Srrigipz. Strix brachyota. Merutip#. Merula migratoria. A few breed in Pennsylvania. Sytviap#. Anthus aquaticus. Frineituip#. Alauda cornuta, Emberiza Canadensis, Fringilla leucophrys, F. iliaca, F. hyemalis, F. purpurea, Coccothraustes Ludoviciana. Certuiap£. ‘Troglodytes hyemalis. Graczatores. Calidris arenaria, Charadrius vociferus, Ch. pluvialis, Vanellus melanogaster, (a few breed within the state,) Limosa fedoa, L. Hudsonica, Scolopax Wilsonii. Natarores. Podiceps cornutus, P. Carolinensis, Sterna arctica, St. nigra, Larus argenta- toides, L. leucopterus, L. canus, Anas clypeata, A. (Chauliodus) strepera, A. (Dafila) caudacuta, A. (Boschas) domestica, A. (B.) crecca, Mareca Americana, Oidemia per- spicillata, O. fusca, O. Americana, Fuligula vallisneria, F. ferina, F. marila, F. rubida, Clangula vulgaris, Cl. albeola, Harelda glacialis, Mergus merganser, M. serrator, Anser Canadensis, A. bernicla, Colymbus glacialis, C. septentrionalis, Uria alle. In all 52. Tasie VII. List of Species which summer (or breed) in the Fur Countries and in Pennsytvania, but WINTER farther to the sourawaRD. Vutturip#. Cathartes aura. Fatconip#, Aquila (Pandion) halizeta. Laniapz. Tyrannus intrepidus. Mervutips. Merula Wilsonii, M. solitaria, Orpheus rufus, O. felivox. Sytviap&. Erythaca (Sialia) Wilsonii, Sylvicola estiva, S. petechia, Setophaga ruticilla, Seiurus aurocapillus. ‘ AmpeE.ip#&. Vireo olivaceus, Bombycilla Americana. Frineittip#. Carduelis Americana (only a very short time absent from Pennsylvania), Pyranga rubra. Srurnip#. Molothrus pecoris, Agelaius phoeniceus, Icterus Baltimore, Quiscalus versicolor, Scolecophagus ferrugineus. Certniapa&. ‘Troglodytes edon, T. palustris. Trocuitip#z. Trochilus colubris. Hirunpinip#. Hirundo bicolor, H. Americana, H. riparia, H. purpurea, Cypselus pelasgius. INTRODUCTION. XXXVil CapriImMuLeip&. Caprimulgus vociferus, C. (chordeiles) Virginiana. Hatcyontip#. Alcedo alcyon. Cotumsip#. Columba (Kctopistes) migratoria. Gratiatores. Ardea Herodias, A. lentiginosa, Totanus vociferus, T. flavipes, T. Bar- tramius, Rallus Carolinus. Natatores. Sterna hirundo, Anas discors, Dendronessa sponsa. In all 42. Tasie VIII. List of Species which winter to the soutHwarp, are birds of passage in the parallel of PHILADELPHIA in spring and autumn, and breed in suMMER in the Fur Countrigs. Fatconip#. Falco Columbarius. Sytviapz. Sylvicola maculosa, 8S. coronata, 8. striata, S. (Vermivora) rubricapilla, S. (V.) peregrina? Setophaga Bonapartii, Seiurus aquaticus. Ampetip£, Bombycilla garrula. Srurnipz. Dolichonyx oryzivorus. GrRatLaTorEs. Charadrius semipalmatus, Strepsilas interpres, Grus Americana, G. Canaden- sis, Recurvirostra Americana, Numenius longirostris, N. Hudsonicus, N. borealis ? Tringa Douglasii, Tr. himantopus, Tr. semipalmata, Tr. alpina, Tr. maritima ? Tr. Schinzii, Tr. minuta, Tr. pusilla, Tr. cinerea, Totanus semipalmatus, T. chloropygius, Scolopax Novo- boracensis, Rallus Novoboracensis, Fulica Americana, PhalaropusWilsonii, Ph. hyperboreus. Natatores. Fuligula rufitorques. In all 35. Note—To illustrate the distribution of the Northern American birds still farther, the two following tables compiled from the Prince of Musignano’s Specchio comparativo, &c., are subjoined. No. I.—List of the Species which migrate northwards, from or through Pennsylvania, in spring, and may therefore be considered as retiring to the Fur Countries to breed, although they did not come under our notice. Fatconip&. Falco Sancti Johannis, F. hyemalis. SyLvi1aD#. Sylvia Novoboracensis, S. palmarum, S. maritima, S. pardalina, S. mitrata, S. pensilis, S. virens, S. Blackburniz, S. icterocephala, S. castanea, S. Canadensis, S. autumnalis, S. sphagnosa, S. azurea, S. Wilsonii, S. vermivora, S. solitaria, S. chrysoptera, Parus bicolor, Regulus cristatus, R. calendula. FRINGILLID&. Fringilla pinus, Loxia curvirostra. GRaLLaToREs. Tringa pectoralis. Natatores. Rhincops nigra, Sterna minuta, Anas obscura, A. Labradora, Mergus albellus, Phalacrocorax carbo, Ph. graculus, Ph. cristatus, Mormon fratercula, Alca torda. In all 36. No. I1.—Species resident all the year in Pennsylvama, which were not seen by us in the Fur Countries. STRIGIDZ. Strix asio. SytviaD#. Sylvia trichas (absents itself a few days in the middle of winter). CertTuHiapz. Sitta Carolinensis. FRINGILLID&. Fringilla melodia, F. socialis, F. pusilla, F. caudacuta, F. maritima, F, Cardinalis. TETRAONID&. Perdix Virginiana. Pavonipz. Meleagris gallopavo (formerly, now extinct in that state). GRALLATORES. Hematopus ostralegus.——In all 12, XXXVIll INTRODUCTION. TasieE IX. List of Birds detected on the North Georgian Islands and adjoining Seas, lat, 73° to 75° N., on Sir Edward Parry’s first Voyage. Srricipz. Strix nyctea. Frineittipe. Emberiza nivalis. Corvip#. Corvus corax. Hirunpinip&. Species ignota. Caprimuteip&, Caprimulgus Americanus. Tetraonip&. Tetrao rupestris. Graxiatores. Calidris arenaria, Charadrius pluvialis, Ch, semipalmata, Strepsilas collaris, Tringa variabilis, Tr. cinerea, ‘Tr. maritima, Numenius borealis ? Phalaropus fulicarius. Naratores. Sterna arctica, Larus glaucus, L. argentatus, L. leucopterus, L. eburneus, L. tridactylus, L. Sabinii, Lestris pomarinus, L. parasitica, Procellaria glacialis, Uria Brunnichii, U. grylle, U. alle, Colymbus septentrionalis—(Anatipz.) Anas cygnus, A. bernicla, A. spectabilis, A. mollissima, A. glacialis. 34 in all. All these birds are migratory, arriving on Melville Island in May, and departing with their young broods in October. A sailor, who was walking in the month of February near the ships, saw what he described as a large white bird, flying near the ground. ‘“ If it were a bird,” says Captain Sabine, ‘* it was most probably a Strix nyctea ; but neither this nor any other individual was observed before or afterwards, until the general arrival in May; and as scarcely a day passed afterwards in which birds of this species were not seen, it seems reason- able to conclude that this solitary and somewhat uncertain instance does not justify an exception to the above general remark.” This table may be compared with the list of Greenland birds given below”. * List of Greenland Birds.—(Captain SaBINE.) Fatconip&. Falco albicilla, F. islandicus, F. peregrinus, F. tinnunculus. Stricip#. Strix nyctea, St. asio. Sytvrap#. Sylvia enanthe, Parus bicolor. FrINGILLID#. Enmberiza nivalis, Fringilla Lapponica, F. Linaria. Corvipz. Corvus corax. TETRAONID&. Tetrao lagopus. GRaLLATORES. Charadrius hiaticula, Ch. pluvialis, Ardea cinerea, Tringa cinerea, Tr. maritima, Tr. alpina, Tr. interpres, Scolopax gallinago, Sc. Lapponica, Phalaropus hyperboreus, Ph. platyrhynchus. Natatores. Sterna hirundo, Larus marinus, L. glaucus, L. argentatus, L. eburneus, L. tridactylus, L. Sabinii, Lestris parasiticus, Procellaria glacialis, Pr. puffinus, Alea impennis, A. torda, A. arctica, A. alle, Uria Brun- nichii, U. grylle, Colymbus glacialis, C.septentrionalis, Pelecanus carbo, P. graculus, P. Bassanus.—(ANATID#.) Mergus merganser, M. serrator, Anas anser, A. bernicla, A. spectabilis, A. mollissima, A. boschas, A. clangula, A. hyemalis, A. histrionica——In all 55 species. INTRODUCTION. XXX1X TABLE X. Comparative View of the number of Species in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, on the Banks of the Saskatchewan, in the 64th parallel, in the Arctic Islands, and in the Fur Countries in general. Fhilad. ‘Saskateh. G4th perallel. chee ay ae Lat. 40°. Lat. 54°. Lat. 74° Resident, and of course breeding A 44 24 16 0 40 Migratory, that summer or breed ; 60 117 87 34 198 Ss that winter only : : 71 1 0 0 0 - that pass in spring or autumn 59 37 10 0 0 5 doubt if they breed or pass merely 0 8 0 0 0 Accidental visiters : Fi dl 2 0 0 0 281 189 113 34 238 This summary shews, that the number of species which are known to rear their young on the banks of the Saskatchewan amount to 141, while there are only 104 species enumerated as breeding in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where ornithology has been so much more thoroughly investigated. It also appears that as great a variety of birds breed in the 64th parallel as in the 40th. The number of species that arrive from the north merely to winter in Pennsylvania exceeds those that come from the south to breed there; while the birds that simply pass on their way to the north nearly equal the latter. The resident birds diminish gradually as the latitude increases. Tasie XI. List of Species common to the Old World and to the Fur Countries. Fatconip#, Aquila chrysaeta, A. (Haliaétus) leucocephala, A. (Pandion) halizéta, Falco peregrinus, F. islandicus, F. esalon, Accipiter (Astur) palumbarius, Buteo vulgaris, B. lagopus, B. (Circus) cyaneus. Stricipz. Strix otus, St. brachyota, St. nebulosa, St. nyctea, St. funerea, St. Tengmalmi. Sytviapz. Parus atricapillus, Anthus aquaticus. Ampetipz. Bombycilla garrula. Frineittipz. Alauda calandra? A. cornuta, Emberiza (Plectrophanes) nivalis, E, (Pl.) Lapponica, Pyrrhula (Corythus) enucleator, Linaria minor. Corvipz. Corvus corax, C. corone, C. pica. xl INTRODUCTION. Picipz. Picus (Apternius) tridactylus. Hirunpining. Hirundo riparia. Tetraontp#. ‘Tetrao (Lagopus) saliceti, T. (L.) rupestris. 32 land-birds. Gratiatores. Calidris arenaria, Charadrius pluvialis, Vanellus melanogaster, Strepsilas interpres, Tringa maritima, Tr. alpina, Tr. Schinzii, Tr. minuta, Tr. cinerea, Totanus semipalmatus, T. calidris, T. Bartramius, T. ochropus, T. macularius, Scolopax Novo- boracensis, Phalaropus hyperboreus, Ph. fulicarius. Naratrores. Podiceps cristatus, P. rubricollis, P. cornutus, Sterna hirundo? St. arctica, St. nigra, Larus glaucus, L. argentatoides, L. leucopterus, L. eburneus, L. canus, L. tridactylus, L. minutus, L. Rossii, L. Sabinii, Lestris pomarina, L. parasitica.— (Anatip#&.) Anas clypeata, A. (Chauliodus) strepera, A. (Dafila) acuta, A. (Boschas) domestica, A. (B.) crecca, Somateria mollissima, 8. spectabilis, Oidemia perspicillata, O. fusca, Fuligula ferina, F. marila, Clangula vulgaris, Harelda glacialis, Mergus mer- ganser, M. serrator, Cygnus Bewickii, Anser bernicla, A. albifrons, A. hyperborea.— Colymbus glacialis, C. arcticus, C. septentrionalis, Uria Brunnickii, U. troile, U. grylle, U. alle, Mormon arctica, Alca torda, Procellarize queedam ?——Upwards of 62 water- birds. The preceding tables have been constructed with the view of exhibiting the more remarkable facts connected with the distribution of the feathered tribes, which a residence in the Fur Countries enabled me to ascertain. Being acquainted, however, with the phenomena of that region only, and therefore qualified to take but a very partial view of the geographical distribution of animals, I have avoided offering any general remarks or conclusions, and beg to refer the reader to Mr. Swainson’s essay in the Encyclopedia of Geography, now in the press. He has, I understand, treated the subject, particularly as relating to American birds, in much detail; and from his very exten- sive knowledge of Ornithology, and the philosophic nature of his views, he brings powers to the task which few possesst—R. Melville Hospital, Chatham, July, 1831. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATUR A LS Y Shee BY WILLIAM SWAINSON, Esa. In estimating the progress of zoological science during the last ten years, it seems essential to view the subject under two heads: firstly, as regards a knowledge of individual structure ; and secondly, as regards the application of this knowledge to the illustration of general laws. To expatiate on the extent of the discoveries, or on the value of the physiological facts which have been brought to light during this period, would be altogether superfluous. ‘They are, indeed, so vast, and at the same time so diversified, that it is no longer in the power of an individual, absorbed in the study of a part, rightly to appreciate the full bearings of the whole. If, then, we are to measure the pro- gress of this science by the accession of new objects, or by our increased knowledge of structure, its advance has been almost immeasurable. Yet, while we may justly exult in these splendid accessions to our favourite science, we must still consider them but as materials for reaching “a higher state of knowledge: that, in short, which was long ago pronounced by Linnezus to be the “ ultimus finis” of the true Zoologist,—the discovery of the Natural System. However greatly the learned Swede may have erred in his efforts to attain this end ; however different are the opinions upon record regarding his zoological system, and of all others that have supplanted it; and however incon- sistent these latter appear with each other; still, among those whom f xli INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS the general voice has most honoured and respected, there is but one opinion on this Linnean axiom. Nearly every writer, in fact, who now aims at distinction by investigating natural affinities, prosecutes this “ grand, this ulterior object * ;” and it has justly been pronounced that a correct knowledge of the natural system is the “ primum and ultimum of true science +.” Now it is a fact no less remarkable than true, that while the import- ance of studying the general laws of creation becomes every day more apparent, and its necessity is more and more insisted upon, still that our knowledge of those laws during the last ten years has remained completely stationary. ‘To show upon what foundation this assertion rests, it will be necessary to make a slight digression. It was in the year 1819 that the attention of Zoologists was awakened by the appearance of the celebrated Hore Entomologice of the younger Macleay; and this was followed, two years afterwards, by the erudite Systema Mycologicum of Elias Fries, one of the greatest Botanists of Germany. The authority of the Systema Nature, so far as regards natural arrangement, had already been severely shaken by the Régne Animal of the great Cuvier,—not to mention in Orni- thology the writings of Le Vaillant. But the system of the great Swede was now to be annihilated. 7 Differing in their details, and each unconscious of the other’s sen- timents, it is no less extraordinary than interesting to trace the perfect agreement of these eminent men on two great and primary principles : first, that the natural series of affinities throughout all the grand divi- sions of Nature is circular ; and secondly, that every minor division or group forms its own peculiar circle. In estimating the value of these theories, it may be said that the first is assumed ; since, until the whole of the animal or the vegetable kingdom has been analysed, the true course of affinity might be con- jectured, but could not be demonstrated. It is, however, an assump- tion fully warranted by the second conclusion: this latter resting entirely upon analysis, and therefore capable, in such groups as have * Annulosa Jav., Pref. xii. + Kirby, Intr. to Entom., p. 4, 547. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. xi been so analysed, of mathematical demonstration. It would be pre- sumptuous in one, whose knowledge of Botany is very limited, to say how far Mr, Fries has succeeded in demonstrating his second propo- sition; but I may venture to express an opinion that, in the genera Phaneus and Scarabeus, Mr. Macleay has established it most com- pletely. The promulgation of a theory so novel, and so calculated to destroy all received opinions on natural arrangement, gave rise, as might be expected, to much difference of sentiment, particularly among the Naturalists of Britain. Nearly all those whose writings had placed them in the foremost ranks, and who had long viewed the systems of the day as mere helps to the memory, admitted, either wholly or in part, the correctness of Mr. Macleay’s views. Others, however, have rejected all such ideas on circular affinities or definite divisions ; but hitherto these objections have only been supported by partial or abstract reasoning. Twelve years have now elapsed since the publication of the Hore Entomologice. During this period, some of the most zealous disciples of its author have applied the theory of their master to various depart- ments of Zoology, with different degrees of success. A great insight has thus been gained into several natural groups ; and, in many cases, their systems have made a much more correct approximation to what we see in Nature, than did those of their predecessors. But, without detracting from the just merit of these attempts, we must not be blind to the fact, that they exhibit nothing more than the mere application of a theory; without bringing to light, or without even attempting the discovery, of a single new principle in natural arrangement. The track which had been marked out in the Hore Entomologice has in no one instance been intentionally deviated from ; and during this long period not the slightest discovery in the general laws of creation has been effected. I have thus shown in what respect the philosophy of Zoology has remained stationary ; but it might even be said to have retrograded. One of the great characteristics, apparent in every page of the Hore f2 xliv INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS Entomologice, is its tendency to raise Zoology to the rank of a demon- strative science. By proving that natural affinities were circular, it established at the same time the existence of definite groups ; from which, of course, if any part was taken away, and placed in another group, a violation of natural affinities would inevitably follow, and both groups be rendered artificial. Now this principle, as it appears to me, has been either completely overlooked or essentially violated by the disciples of this school. They express their opinion that a genus, which seems allied to two different families, “ may be placed in either, according to its external characters* ;’’ and if these two families are in juxtaposition, “ it is ¢mmaterial to which of them it may eventually be referred.’’ Now, if an arrangement be artificial, that is, framed merely to assist the memory, this mode of proceeding would be very well; but if such a principle be admitted in the theory of Mr. Mac- leay, it completely destroys all his idea of definite groups, and leaves every one to describe their circles at their own good will and pleasure. Again; another most important definition, contained in the same volume, relates to the nature and value of those groups which are there denominated genera, and which are shown to contain certain types of form, termed sub-genera. It is, moreover, proved that every zoological genus thus characterized returns into itself, and forms a circle. It matters not whether this definition of a zoological genus agrees with that which has been given to the word by logicians; yet one of the most zealous disciples of Mr. Macleay has rejected his application of this word, which is definite, and has advocated another, confessedly founded upon metaphysical reasoning} and mere opinion f. It is owing to these and to similar misconceptions, which the disciples of Mr. Macleay have fallen into, that the theory itself has been of late so severely attacked, and has even lost some of its supporters. Certain, however, it is, that these inconsistencies are nowhere to be found in the writings of this distinguished master. He has re- peatedly warned his disciples on the facility of making circles and quinary divisions, when unsupported by those tests which he has him- * Vigors, Zool. Journ., i., p. 397. Tt Zool. Journ., iii., p. 97. { Ibid., i., p. 341. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. xlv self applied to the only two groups he has thoroughly analysed ; namely, Scarabeus and Phaneus; while, so far from presuming that he has discovered the natural system, he states upon every occasion, most prominently and distinctly, that we have as yet obtained but a glimpse of that system; while, at the same time, he has pointed out the only path by which, as he truly conceives, it can be further deve- loped *. It will be readily perceived, from the tenor of these observations, that my own researches have led to the adoption of the two great principles of natural arrangement already adverted to. I speak of the circular theory alone, since MM. Macleay and Fries differ in the number of their divisions; Mr. Macleay’s being five, while Mr. Fries insists upon four}. Neither of these agree with the details now laid before the public. Fortunately, however, each party is desirous that his theory should be tried by one and the same test. We agree that no group, or division of a group, can be natural, if its affinities are not circular, or decidedly tending thereto: this must be the test of all. And here I may observe, that the opponents of Mr. Macleay have adopted a line of argument, which, in every other branch of science, is totally inadmissible. Instead of combatting his theory by general or abstract reasoning, or, what is even more inconclusive, by mere opinion, they should have either disproved the facts upon which it is founded, or have explained them in some other way, more calcu- lated to show the harmonious combinations of Nature. If this had been done, the foundation would have been sapped, and the theoretical superstructure destroyed. But the singularity of the controversy has been this, that the facts have been suffered to remain unquestioned, while the inferences have been vehemently denied; denied, also, without an attempt to substitute others in their place. It seems to * The only probability, I conceive, of our ever understanding the great scheme of the creation, must depend on studying the method in which the organs and properties of natural beings vary. All true knowledge of Natural History hinges on this,—‘‘ Ordinis hec virtus erit et venus.” —Hore Ent., p- 458. + Mr. Macleay, with every appearance of reason, views this difference as rather nominal than real.—See Linn. Trans., xiv., p- 46. xlvi INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS have been forgotten by these gentlemen, that science is founded upon facts, and upon a cautious process of inductive and analogical reasoning drawn from those facts : it has nothing to do with speculative opinion or with metaphysical reasoning. ‘The full knowledge of the Natural System, or of the plan which OmnirotEeNce pursued in Creation, none but a madman or an enthusiast can ever hope to attain. But I have yet to learn why we are to withhold that title from a system which endeavours to reconcile all the appearances of Nature, and to explain some part of her laws. <A natural system in Botany is advocated and adopted as such, without any one venturing to question the correct- ness of the epithet ; but, in Zoology, it seems to be thought presump- tuous to talk of the Natural System; because, as it is urged, that system, in all its bearings, can never be understood. As well may we call the Solar System an artificial arrangement of the heavenly bodies. As well may we maintain there are no natural laws inChemistry, since all the properties of inorganic matter have not, nor ever will be, discovered. The structure and economy of an animal are as incontestable matters of fact as the presence of any substance in the mineral world, and both are equally legitimate instruments of reasoning. Until, therefore, we come to the determination of rejecting that which is known, from a consideration of that which is unknown, I must continue to esteem the Hore Entomologice as the first and the most comprehensive developement of the Natural System that has been given to the world. The theory which it explains may be in parts detective, and in others erroneous, but it has been pronounced by a most distin- guished Naturalist, who even suspects its entire accuracy, to be “ the most consistent of any yet advanced, since it reconciles facts, which, upon no other plan, can be reconciled*.” Now, unless these facts are fully and clearly explained by some other theory, and new harmonies of creation brought to light, all the general reasoning or metaphysical disputation that can be urged against it has, in my estimation, nothing to do with the question at issue. I have stated thus much, not from any desire to uphold such parts * Kirby, Introd. to Entom, iv., p. 359. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. xvii of the Hore Entomologice as are the result of synthetical investiga- tion, still less to maintain the theory of quinary divisions, which I now venture, in part, to dispute, but to express my deep sense of the pro- found sagacity of that mind which first demonstrated the existence of circular affinities, and first drew a just and philosophic distinction be- tween analogy and affinity. I have done this, because it seems to me that the reputation of this naturalist, like that of Linnzus, has suf- fered more from the zeal of his disciples than from the arguments of his opponents, and because I must ever feel grateful to one whose philosophic deductions first drew my attention to these inquiries. As for the rest, “ we may all possibly be wrong in part, or even in much of our respective details ; but however this may be, it is difficult not to believe that we are grasping at some great truth, which a short lapse of time will perhaps develope in all its beauty, and at length place in the possession of every observer of nature *,” Convinced that a zoological system which aimed at illustrating the general laws of creation was that only which deserved to be called Natural, it was in the year 1824 that I endeavoured to apply the circular and quinarian theory to a family group in Ornithology +, deter- mined on ascertaining how far it would illustrate certain affinities and analogies, which to me, at least, appeared unquestionable. I soon found, however, that although this theory would explain much that I desired, it would not explain all ; and the publication of a quinarian arrange- ment of this same family, nearly at the same time, but essentially different from my own {, showed me the necessity of looking much deeper into the subject. Convinced that truth, if it was to be dis- covered, would only result from minute and patient analysis, I entirely abandoned the synthetic method, as the rock upon which others were splitting; while the mutual dependence of one natural group upon another, led almost insensibly from the analysis of the Lanzade, to that of the vast order of Insrssores§, or perching birds. Eight years have * Macleay, Linn. Trans., xiv., p. 63. + An Inquiry into the Natural Affinities of the Laniade, Zool. Journ., i., p. 289, Oct. 1824. t Linn. Trans., xiv., p. 436. § I have adopted this name, because, upon the whole, it is the most expressive of any yet given to xlvill INTKODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS now been devoted, almost unceasingly, to this investigation; and although I have found it impossible in every instance to enter into details, I now venture to lay the results before the world, considering that a more appropriate channel for such communication could not be chosen than this: being the first zoological work ever published under the immediate authority of the British Government. The object of the introductory observations to each family of the order InsgssorEs, is to demonstrate the following peculiarities in natural arrangement. ‘These I shall briefly state as propositions. 1. Every natural series of beings, in its progress from a given point, either actually returns, or evinces a tendency to return, again to that point, thereby forming a Circle. 2. The contents of such a Circle or Group are symbolically represented by the contents of all other Circles in the same class of animals ; this resemblance being strong or remote, in proportion to the proximity or the distance of the groups compared. 3. The primary divisions of every natural Group, of whatsoever extent or value, are THREE, each of which forms its own Circle. 1. Little need be said on the first proposition, since it is in com- plete accordance with the theory supported by MM. Macleay, Fries, Agardh, Oken, &c. I have merely modified it for the purpose of showing that, strictly speaking, every group is not a circle, since in many which, by the theory of representation, can be proved to be natural, the circle is incomplete, either by the extinction or by the non-discovery of certain types. The aberrant group of the class Aves, of the order Raptores, and of the family of Pzcide, are all striking examples of this truth. 2. This, which may be termed the theory of representation, was this order. But it should not have been concealed that the merit of having first united the Passeres and the Pice belongs to M. Vieillot, and not to the writer in the Linnean Transactions. So far back as the year 1816, M. Vieillot named this order Sylvicole. See his Analyse Orn., p. 25. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. xlix first promulgated in the Hore Entomologice, where it has been exten- sively applied, and the author has shown its existence both in some of the highest and in one of the lowest groups of vertebrated animals : yet nowhere can I perceive that it has been declared—what I think it to be—the only certain test of a natural group. Circles may be, and have been, formed with such a deceitful appearance of following nature, that the most eminent and the most cautious have been led into a belief that they were strictly natural. Ifsucha group is thought to be complete or perfect, it is very well to say, put each of its divisions to the test of returning into itself *, and the fallacy will be discovered ; but among groups of a certain value, genera and sub-families more particularly, there is not one in three that can be so tested. This inability partly arises from our superficial acquaintance with forms, and partly, as we believe, from there being many real gaps in the chain of continuity. Without, therefore, some other test for a natural group, than the mere circumstance of its returning into itself, or even its simple parallelism with a contiguous group, I consider demonstra- tion not to have been attained. The theory of representation thus steps in, and at once dispels the illusion, or demonstrates the correct- ness of the series. In the sub-families of Myotherine and Pariane, I have endeavoured to exemplify this principle of the natural system in all its bearings. 3. The results that have attended my analysis of every natural group hitherto investigated, lead me to differ in the onset from all who have adopted the quinarian system. And so far as regards the order of Insessores among birds, I have endeavoured to shew that the primary circles of each group are invariably Turee. These I have denominated—i. The typical ; u. The sub-typical ; and iii. The aberrant. Mr. Macleay, on the contrary, considers that every group is first resolvable into five minor groups, two of which he terms normal, and the other three aberrant. I know not why this talented writer should have chosen to have used this latter mode of division, which is dznary, and but ill calculated, as it appears to me, to express his own definition of a natural group. Neither he, nor M. Fries, * Mr. Macleay’s Letter to Dr. Fleming, p. 33. og ] INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS admit a group to be natural which does not form a circle more or less complete. How far the central group of M. Fries will agree with this definition, I am not botanist enough to determine; but the normal group of Mr. Macleay unquestionably does not, since he himself tells us that it forms not one circle but two*. The first division, therefore, of every group into two, although useful perhaps in some respects, is clearly artificial. The aberrant group, as being that which more immediately connects one circle to another, comprehends, from necessity, a greater variety of forms than are generally to be met with in the two others. The union of all these aberrant forms into a circle of their own, is a principle of natural arrangement which has hitherto been undisco- vered, and which has therefore claimed, in the following pages, most particular attention. This union, however, must be kept perfectly distinct from that property which was long ago suspected to exist in opposite points of a circle, and of which instances have been given f. These examples, illustrating Mr. Macleay’s meaning, appear to me, as they do to him, mere relations of analogy ; since, if the suspicion of their affinety had been just, we should have had a union of one typical and two aberrant groups; a mode of combination which, to me at least, Nature has in no instance exhibited. As to the relative rank of the three primary divisions, some differ- ence of opinion may arise; for the truth is, that the principles by which the value of zoological groups are regulated have not been sufficiently investigated. Two groups may be of equal rank, and still be vastly disproportionate in their contents. No one, for instance, would think of pronouncing the class of birds a superior group to that of quadrupeds, merely because the contents of the first, in comparison to the second, are as six to one. Number cannot decide the question; and therefore, as natural groups like these may be equivalent in rank without being so in extent, we are left no other * « M. Fries lays it down as a rule, that he admits no groups whatever to be natural unless they form circles more or less complete. Let us then apply this rule to what he terms his central group, and which he makes always to consist of two. Does this forma circle? Ifnot, the group cannot be natural according to his own definition.”—Macleay on certain general Laws, &c. Linn. Trans., xiv. 58. + Hore Ent., ii., p. 349. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. li alternative than to consider the primary circles of every group as equal in rank and value. But I wish not to attach too much importance to a term, or, in drawing up these tables of affinities, to depart more than is necessary from the usual mode of exhibiting circular groups. I have, therefore, in every instance, detailed the subordinate divisions of the aberrant groups, although, without this explanation, such a plan might convey an erroneous impression of their relative value. I must now advert to another, and, in my estimation, an unques- tionable property of natural arrangement: this is, the direct union of typical groups, without the intervention of those which are aber- rant. A vague suspicion of something like this first occurred to me when studying the affinities of the Lanzade, in the year 1824*. This property, however, belongs but to very few groups, since it has only been detected in such as are pre-eminently abundant in species, and are not of a higher rank than families. Beyond such groups, the higher we ascend, the more dissimilar are the typical groups in ap- proximating circles; until, in looking to a diagram of the vertebrated animals, (such, for instance, as that in the Hore Ent., p. 318,) not only does all appearance of affinity between the external or typical divisions vanish, but it becomes even difficult, in some instances, to trace their analogy. These inferior typical groups, indeed, may be said to have three distinct relations of affinity: one to that which precedes it ; another to that by which it is followed; and a third which unites it to a group out of its own proper circle. The two first, on this account, may be termed znternal ; the latter, external. This, however, is a question so abstruse, and requires such nicety of investigation, that, for the present, I should rather, perhaps, put it as a query, than consider it as a demonstrated fact. At the same time, I must confess my utter inability to reconcile, by any other theory, the evident and universally acknowledged affinity between the Thamnophiline and the Myothe- rine ; between the Meruline and the Philomeline ; and more espe- cially between the typical Setophage and the typical Sylvicole. * Zool. Journ., i, p. 302. a2 li INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS Unless these affinities, which I have fully detailed, can be disproved or explained by some other mode of reasoning, it seems to me im- possible to arrive at any other conclusion *. Such are the principles of natural arrangement discoverable by analysis, which more or less pervade the entire order of Perching Birds. Aware that they are, in a great measure, opposed to every theory yet started upon the subject, I have been anxious to establish them by facts which are incontrovertible, and by arguments founded not merely upon structure, but upon every circumstance, even the most trivial, that is yet known of the economy of the birds themselves. It is with these facts, and with these inferences, that such naturalists as wish to establish other conclusions must deal. It cannot be too often repeated, that science has nothing to do with mere opinions, or with abstract reasoning. Authentic facts and just inferences, the former capable of being verified, and the latter founded exclusively upon analysis, and in unison with some general harmony of creation, are the only arguments which will possess any permanent influence. The truth or the fallacy of these opinions must therefore entirely repose upon the proofs here adduced ; for although similar results have attended the investigation of other departments of nature, these results have not yet been laid before the public in detail +, and conse- * Recent investigations in another department of Zoology, more abundant in forms and species than that of the class Aves, lead me strongly to suspect the existence of another property in natural groups, which at present I shall merely state as an hypothesis. It is the union of the most aberrant group in one circle, with the most aberrant in the next; so that in a diagram of the Order INsEssorgs, formed either on Mr. Macleay’s plan of five circles, or of mine upon three, one circle would unite all the Tenuirostral types, another the Fissirostral and Scansorial, and a third the typical and sub-typical. The whole would thus be represented by three great circles, one within the other, and this without the least derangement of the series here exhibited. It must, however, be premised, that this principle cannot be clearly traced in Ornithology, because the Tenuirostral or Grallatorial groups are remark- ably deficient in their numerical contents. In Entomology, the very reverse of this appears to be the case; and it is there, if my suspicions are well founded, that it may probably be detected. + The essential characters of several of the groups in Conchology, slightly mentioned in the two volumes of ‘ Zoological Illustrations,’ new series, now in course of publication, depend upon the same laws. I may also be allowed to cite, in corroboration of the theory now advanced, “‘ The principles which appear to regulate the geographic distribution of man and of animals,” as detailed in the ‘ En- cyclopedia of Geography,’ p. 245-—-266, the proofs sheets of which are now before me. So far as concerns the variation of Man, I feel all the confidence that can result from being supported by such philosophers as Cuvier and BLuMEnBacu. On this point the theory is theirs, not mine. (July 1831.) ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. lili quently possess as yet no claim to corroborative evidence. Seeing, nevertheless, that the longest life is insufficient to analyse more than an insignificant portion of Nature’s works, and that centuries, probably, may elapse before the true arrangement of all known animals, by such a mode of investigation, can be detected, the mind may be allowed to take a wider range; and, presuming that a system regulating such an important and comprehensive class of the animal kingdom would necessarily pervade all nature, let us briefly consider the subject under this light, divested of metaphysical definitions. 1. The true nature of Matter has never yet, and probably never will be, clearly understood. Philosophers, however, distinguish two divi- sions, to which they give the names of ponderable and zmponderable ; while electricity, which, from its peculiar phenomena, cannot be com- prised under either, is still conceived by some to form a third. 2. As ponderosity is that quality of matter by which it is most dis- tinguished from Time and Space*, from Light and Heat, so we may esteem it the typical peculiarity of Matter. 3. Ponderable matter, in common language, is termed a body, and of such bodies we know only of three sorts—i. Animals ; ii. Vegetables ; and iii. Minerals—the two first being organic, the latter inorganic. The general sense of mankind, from the earliest ages to the present time, has concurred in considering all the substances composing our globe as belonging to one or other of these three divisions or king- doms. ‘This conclusion, indeed, is so natural, and appears to me so just, that it seems almost needless to uphold its propriety. It has been insisted, however *, that the primary division of matter is into organic and inorganict. Now, to use this distinctiont in common % See Hore Ent., 179. + Hore Ent., p. 175. t ‘ Who does not see that I was here hinting at the quinary division of matter as much as if I had expressed it tabularly thus? MATTER. “ Normal Group, es Animals. Organic. 2. Vegetables. Sy *x* kK * Aberrant Group, {! x * x Inorganic. 5 ee —Macleay’s Letter to Dr. Fleming, p. 10. Mr. Macleay, however, upon a former occasion, observes, with more justice, *‘ We have two natural, but I fear somewhat arbitrary, divisions of matter into organic and inorganic. No person denies the liv INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS language is perfectly unobjectionable. But I must confess my ina- bility to discover upon what valid grounds it can be adopted in natural classification. The most extraordinary result of this division of mat- ter is the exclusion of the mineral kingdom; a kingdom, moreover, which has recently been so ably studied, that its circular affinities would appear to have been demonstrated*. It has been urged, indeed (Hore Ent., p. 175), as a reason for excluding mineralogy from the true department of natural history, that its laws depend upon che- mistry ; but I do not see the force of this objection, and I have already stated an objection to this binary division of a group, as being incon- sistent with the theory that all natwral groups are circular. 4. In what way the mineral kingdom may be connected on one side to the vegetable, and on the other to the animal, has never been pre- cisely stated. Yet there are many circumstances, among which the microscopic observations of Robert Brown are not the least interesting, which shew, that this affinity is highly probable, while the union of the two great divisions of organised matter, strictly so termed, the animal and the vegetable, is incontestible. 5. In the Vegetable, or subtypical kingdom, botanists have long ago distinguished three great divisions, namely Monocotyledones, Dicoty- ledones, and Acotyledones ; but the circular affinities of these groups have received no attention. 6. In the Animal kingdom, which is unquestionably the typical perfection of matter, the penetration of that distinguished zoologist, whose name I have so often quoted, has detected an undeniable ten- dency to acircle. “ It must, however, be remembered, that M. Virey, one of the most eminent zoologists of France, assuming the nervous system for his basis, long since divided the animal kingdom, without assigning names to them, into three sub-kingdoms {,” while many existence of this division in nature, still less is the use of it to be despised. —Hore Ent. And again, ‘ Matter, whether organised or in a brute state, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, is very dittle if at all different in itself.’.—Hore Ent., p. 188. * «M. Ampére, as great a mathematician as chemist, has published a Classification Naturelle pour les corps simples, and proved that ‘‘ les corps sont tellement coordonnés l’un a l'autre, qu’ils ne forment non plus une série mais un cercle.”’ ’—Macleay’s Letter, p. 21. + Kirby, Int. to Ent. iv. 362. I regret not being better acquainted with M. Virey’s theory. Mr. Kirby, whose words I quote, refers to ‘ N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.,’ ii. p. 25. ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. lv reasons might be adduced in favour of the supposition, that the three aberrant divisions of Mr. Macleay (Acrita, Mollusca, and Radiata) unite and form a circle of their own. 7. Limiting our attention to the sub-kingdom Vertebrata, who does not perceive that the fishes make as near an approach to the aquatic serpents as to the aquatic quadrupeds? or that the Reptilza (Macl.) do not evince a much greater tendency to unite with the fishes than with the birds? Between these last and the reptiles, the hiatus is not only wide, but vast. Yet the similarity which some of the water-serpents bear to the eel-like fishes is so strong, that a cursory observer would not detect the two classes. A single genus, in fact, would be sufficient to render the union perfect. 8. Finally, looking to the aberrant group of the class Aves, it might be expected that I should shew in what manner they are united. I shall not, however, at present attempt to do this. Not only is it highly probable that several important forms among the Natatores are extinct or undiscovered*, but I consider the circular arrangement of the Rasores, as proposed in the Linnzan Transactions, to be com- pletely artificial. From these considerations it appears highly probable, that the same principles which regulate the natural arrangement of the Insessorial birds, are prevalent in all the higher groups of nature. 9. The most comprehensive view which the human mind can ever obtain of that sublime Plan which has emanated from OmnieoTENce, must, in every branch of science, be partial and imperfect}. From such a Being nothing can emanate but what is replete with order and harmony, with design and instruction. Of this the holy records of His word assure us, and the works of His hand proclaim the solemn truth. “ The instruction of man,” says a learned and pious naturalist, “ was best secured by placing before him a book of emblems or symbols, in * Since the above was written, I find that two extraordinary genera, which seem to disturb all the systems, as partaking both of the nature of the Natatores and the Rasores, have been discovered in South America. They have been just described by my learned and estimable friends, MM. Isidore Geoff. Saint-Hilaire and Lesson, under the generic names of Attagis and Thinocorus. These forms I have not yet seen. + See also Annul. Jav., Pref., xii. Ivi INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. which one thing might represent another. If he was informed by his Creator that the works of creation constituted such a book, by the right interpretation of which he might arrive at spiritual verities as well as natural knowledge, curiosity and the desire of information concerning these high and important subjects would stimulate him to the study of the mystic volume placed before him, in the progress of which he would doubtless be assisted by that pivine guidance which even now is with those who honestly seek the truth. Both divines and philosophers have embraced this opinion, which is built upon the word of Gop itself*.”’ 10. All that we can know with certainty on the nature of this A.micuty Berna must be gathered from the inspired volume. We are there expressly told that the GopnEAp is THREE-FOLD, yet ONE AND UNDIVIDED. If to awaken, to strengthen, or to increase our faith in this high mystery, the Atmiacuty condescended to employ other means and other helps for our conviction, we can conceive no other so intelligible to human reason, as that this great truth should be pro- claimed by the wonders of creation. These instruments of “ spiritual verities,”? as they have prophetically been termed}, surround us on every side ;—they are within our grasp—they speak to our perceptions. Let us not then believe, that the power of discerning such spiritual truths by these their material symbols has been withheld from us, even in this our fallen state. Let us rather, with humble thank- fulness, adore that Gop, who, to increase our faith in his word, enables us to discern, however dimly, in earthly things, the shadows of such as are heavenly. Sw. Tittenhanger Green, St. Alban’s, July, 1831. * Kirby, Int. to Ent., iv. 402. t The most natural and consistent interpretation of 1 Cor. xiii. 12. BXeropev yap apt §v’ ecortpou ev aiveypart, is, that ‘‘ we see now as it were in a mirror the glory of God reflected enigmatically by the things that he has made.’”’—Kirby, Int. to Ent., p. 402, note. Pie Ee vA eC? Es: BY Mr. SWAINSON. Tuar the principles of natural arrangement explained and developed in this volume may not be blended with extraneous topics, I shall now advert to such others as seem to require notice. In the first place, I feel that some apology is due both to His Majesty’s Government and to the Public at large, for the tardiness with which this Volume has followed the first. Whatever blame may be attached to this delay, must fall exclusively upon myself, as Dr. Richardson’s portion has long been prepared. But my desire repeat- edly to revise the groups, and submit their contents to many and diversified tests, not even alluded to in the subsequent details, has occupied no inconsiderable portion of two years; while impaired health, and the necessity of prosecuting literary engagements previously made, have all contributed to retard the publication. As I have found it necessary, in the body of the work, to intro- duce many new groups, and allude to others defined in the Appendix, it seems necessary to explain the views that have regulated this pro- ceeding. It has been urged, in defence of modern genera, that, even in a system confessedly artificial, they are of great use, both in assisting the discrimination of forms, and abridging the labour of the student in his search after species. Granted. But this principle, like every other, may be carried too far. The authors and advocates of artificial systems, having no definite or acknowledged rule to regulate their groups, are at full liberty to make as many genera or sub-genera as they please; and so long as these divisions are capable of clear and h lvill PREFACE. concise definition, they answer the ends proposed; namely, clearness of arrangement, brevity of description, and facility in finding species. But the human mind is ever prone to extremes, and the passion for dividing and subdividing, and giving names, may become as great an evil as that which led the followers of Linnzus to deprecate all divi- sion, and to view with abhorrence the slightest attempt to break up the old groups. Now the point at which these artificial genera and sub-genera should stop is, where they can be no longer defined with reference to the end proposed; that is, when their peculiarities are so slight that they cannot be pointed out in a clear and comprehensive manner. When, to make them intelligible, it becomes necessary to draw up long and perplexing characters, the very object of their makers is defeated. No clearness is gained, no facilities of research afforded ; the student is bewildered, and the experienced naturalist consumes more time in reading over and comparing these generic chapters, than would enable him to glance his eye over twenty good specific characters. The tedious and intolerable length of such defini- tions, it must be confessed, is inevitable; for their authors, not being acquainted with the principle of variation in their group, are obliged to specify all its characters ; whereas, if the group was a natural one, and its true distinctions had been studied, its essential characters, as we shall repeatedly exemplify, might be expressed in two or three lines. Fortunately, the only group in Ornithology which has appa- rently suffered from this evil is that of the Falconide. In Entomo- logy, however, its pernicious consequences are nowhere so conspicuous as in the recent works upon British Insects: where the generic characters, for the most part, are so complicated and prolix as to occupy half a page. To show that this passion for genus making among us has reached a point bordering upon the ridiculous, I need only state a fact, asserted by one who seems not to be conscious of following in the same track, “that the Musca putris of Linné has actually been converted into three species, belonging to two genera*.” * Stevens, Catalogue of British Insects, Pref., p. xiii. PREFACE. lix If anything is calculated to invest Natural History with a repulsive aspect, and to hide all the enticing charms of the science, it is assur- edly this mode of encumbering it with learned names and _prolix defi- nitions. The only merits of artificial systems are in pointing out differences, and in abridging labour ; when they do this, they are not only useful, but, in our present state of knowledge, absolutely essential. To combine them, however, with the natural system, is as hopeless as it is impossible. Mr. Macleay, who in this department is a host, has justly said, “It is the evil of half-artificial systems, that while they are at utter variance with natural affinities, they do not even answer the humble purposes of a catalogue*.” But no such latitude of making groups is allowed to the follower of the natural system. His decisions are regulated by certain rule., to which, as he finds them capable of definition, he is compelled to adhere. If he understands his genus, he knows that that genus, theoretically speaking, contains certain types of form, or sub-genera, indicated by two or three nice but discriminating characters; and to these sub-genera he either gives patronymic names, as in the case of Scarabeus (Hore Ent., p. 497), or he designates them by numbers, as in Phaneus (1b., p. 124). If he adopts the former plan, he must, from necessity, considerably augment the nomenclature of the science ; but if, on the other hand, he chooses the latter, he must, to be con- sistent, reject all sub-generic names throughout Zoology. Now it so happens that many of these sub-genera have been named long ago, and. are so strikingly marked that zoologists have mistaken them for genera: hence, if the plan of naming them was suddenly relinquished, more confusion than perspicuity would ensue. We must, therefore, at least for the present, follow the first plan, since to retain a patronymic name to one of the types in a generic group, and withhold it from another, would introduce an inconsistency and confusion in nomen- clature perfectly intolerable. In designating the higher groups, I have not considered it expedient to invent names for the purpose of showing the equivalent value of * Annulosa Javanica, p. 36. h 2 lx PREFACE. the typical, the sub-typical, and the aberrant. 'The merit of first uniting the Rasores, the Grallatores, and the Natatores into the aberrant division of the class AVES, belongs to one no less ennobled by birth than by philosophic knowledge. To Cuarizs Lucien Bonaparte, Prince or Musianano, not only the eyes of America but of Europe may be turned, as to one who seems destined by Nature to confer imperishable benefits on this noble science. The family names, according to general custom, terminate in zde. No authority can be quoted for these names, since they have been used by many, in opposite senses, without having been defined *. The names of the sub-families terminate in 2n@, or occasionally in ane. In the progress of the work through the press, much new informa- tion has been acquired +, but I am happy to say without occasioning any other alteration in my views than such as regard the sub-genera of the genus Linaria, which seems to enter that of Coccothraustes by means of the Green Linnet (Loxia chloris, L.). Coccothraustes melanura, vespertina, &c., thus constitute the Fissirostral type of this sub-family, and preserve more closely its analogy to Bombycilla. The assistance I have received in this arduous undertaking has been so important that, notwithstanding the possession of one of the largest ornithological museums in Britain, I question much whether it could have been prosecuted without the united support of men of science, of learning, and of liberality. My first and greatest thanks are due to M. le Baron Cuvier, and to M. Grorrroy Saint-Hitarre, to whom the nature of my object in visiting the French Museum was made known, and from whom IT received facilities for studying, rarely granted either to foreigners or * On this point I shall, upon all occasions, act upon the following determination of the author of the ‘‘ Annulosa Javanica,” “ protesting” with him ‘“ against the slovenly mode lately adopted by some naturalists,” both in England and on the Continent, of publishing names without definitions—“ In these pages all names of mere catalogues, &c., shall be as much overlooked as if they never had existed.” Macleay, Ann. Jav., p. 10. + The opinion expressed at p. 173, that our Cinclus Americanus was different from the Cinclus Pallasi, has been fully confirmed by a specimen of the latter bird sent from Nepaul, and now in the possession of Mr. Gould. It perfectly agrees with the description given by M. Temminck. PREFACE. Ix to natives. Nothing redounds more to the honour of scientific in- stitutions than to see them superintended by such men, not only great and illustrious by their own discoveries, but despising all those national or petty feelings of jealousy which influence narrow minds. To the politeness of M. Istpor—E Grorrroy Sarnt-Hiraire I have elsewhere alluded *. Nor must I omit, in this place, to assure my friend M. Lesson of the grateful recollections I shall ever entertain of his kindness, not only during my residence in Paris, but since my return. To him am [I indebted, among other interesting birds, for the Fissirostral type of the Motaczlline, which has fully confirmed all I ventured to express at pp. 203 and 230. Nor has our own Nationa Museum proved an unproductive field for research. Rich in the Ornithology of the Northern regions, it has furnished much valuable information, and the means of determining several new species. Whatever reasons there might have been for censuring the general management of this institution, they have, we believe, long ceased to exist. The magnificence of the new rooms devoted to Zoology; the sedulous care bestowed upon every donation ; ats ummediate accessrbility ; but, above all, the free and courteous man- ner in which its treasures are gratuitously opened to the public and to the man of science, demands the highest praise. Let but the Government second the zeal of its officers, and the public lend their aid by the contribution of specimens, and in a few years, the Britisu Museum will reflect honour upon a powerful and wealthy nation. To J. G. Cuitpren, Esq., as the Officer more particularly in charge of the Zoological subjects, my thanks are especially due, not merely for the courteous discharge of his official duty, but for all those prompt and nameless facilities which a scientific student stands so much in need of. In the Ornithological productions of our Eastern Empire, the Museum of the Honouraste East Inpia Company is without parallel. To this also I have had free and unrestrained access; and this gratifi- cation has been rendered doubly agreeable by the kindness and * Zoological Illustrations, new Series, vol. i. pl. 8. xii PREFACE. liberality of Dr. Horsriztp, under whose able superintendence the whole is placed. I have great pleasure in offering my best thanks to the Council of the Linnazan Society, who, with their usual liberality and love for science, gave me free permission to make use of their noble collection of Australian Birds. Many errors in their descriptions * have been thus detected, and the geographic range of several groups, confounded with those of America, have been better ascertained. I feel bound also to return my acknowledgments to the Council of the Zoo.oaica Society for their well-intentioned permission to make use of their Museum in Bruton-street; although, from the peculiar wording of the order, and the subsequent prohibition by its officers of taking notes, this permission, for all effectual purposes, was rendered nugatory. The work, however, will not, I trust, suffer much from this. Dr. Richardson has had free access to the northern species ; and the Museum, rich only in the ornithology of Java and Sumatra, will bear no comparison, even in those productions, with the collections made by MM. Duvaucel and Diard, now in Paris; all of which, by the liberality of MM. Cuvier and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I have minutely examined. Sir W. Jarpine, Bart., and P. J. Sersy, Esq., the able authors of the “ Illustrations of Ornithology,’’ have both materially contributed to assist these researches, by transmitting to me, from time to time, all new or dubious forms which have come to their respective museums. When it is remembered that these gentlemen are themselves engaged in publishing ornithological novelties, such disinterestedness demands an especial and grateful acknowledgment. To that enterprising traveller and accomplished naturalist, WittiAm J. Burcuert, Esq., the public expression of my thanks cannot be here omitted. His vast collections, formed in the interior of Southern Africa, have been at all times open to me; and it was here that I became acquainted with the new Genus Cheetops, so peculiarly inte- resting as forming the Rasorial type of the Meruline, connecting that sub-family to the Crateropodine. * Linn. Trans., xv. PREFACE. Ixili Many other individuals have contributed their assistance in various ways towards this attempt at illustrating the natural system. A further enumeration might be tedious, but I cannot pass over the liberality experienced from Sir James M‘Greeor in allowing numerous specimens from the Fort Pitt Museum at Chatham to be sent for examination.—The great instruction I have derived from a large col- lection of Mexican Birds in the possession of Joun Taytor, Esq., the well-known Secretary of the Geological Society—and an inspection of the noble collection of drawings made under the superintendence of GeneraL Harpwicke, during his Zoological researches in British ‘India. It is almost unnecessary to add how much I am indebted to the invaluable works of Le Vaitutant, Witson, Azara, and Sonnini, since their names will so frequently occur in the following pages. These men studied nature, unshackled by system, and they have thus rendered their works imperishable. Of this school, it is deeply to be lamented that nearly the only living member is my friend Mr. Aupugon. I regret much that his instructive Ornithological Bwgraphy issued from the press nearly at the time this was terminated. It is replete with facts of the highest interest. From purely systematic writers, I have derived comparatively but little assistance. Such have been the ample materials which [ have now endeavoured to combine ; with what success it is not for me to judge. If such parts of the great scheme of Nature as are already known have been better illustrated, or one step has been made towards the further developement of her first principles, my chief object has been attained. Sw. cy Ixv LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED IN THIS VOLUME, IN ADDITION TO AUDUBON . Pr : BECHSTEIN Bore’ BoNnAPARTE 39 BREHM . Brisson BRUNNICH BurFFOoN CooPER Douc.Las DuUMERIL Hooker HorsFiELp and Vicors ILLIGER Koc LATHAM LEACH LEISSLER Lesson Lewin MACGILLIVRAY THOSE REFERRED TO IN THE FIRST VOLUME. Birds of America, by John James Audubon. London, 1828, et seq. Ornithological Biography, by John James Audubon, F.R.S., L.&E. Edinb. 1831. Histoire Naturelle usuelle de Allemagne. 4 vol. Leipzig, 1801—1809. quoted from Temminck and Bonaparte. Catalogue of the Birds of the United States, by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano. Read Nov. 7, 1826, pub. in the Maclurean Museum in 1827. Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, by C. L. Bonaparte, &c. Read 1826. Published in the Annals of the Lyceum of New York, an. 1828. American Ornithology, by C. L. Bonaparte, &c. Vol. I. 1].and II. An. 1825—1828. Matériaux pour I’Histoire des Oiseaux, par Chrestien Louis Brehm. Neustadt. 1820—22. Ornithologie, par Mathurin Jacques Brisson. 6 vol. Paris, 1770. Ornithologia Borealis, Auctore M. T. Brunnich. Planches enluminées des Oiseaux, par Daubenton le Jeune. Description of a new species of Grosbeak inhabiting the North Western Territory, by William Cooper. Read January, 1825. Annals of the Lyceum of New York, vol. I. p. 220. An. 1824, 1825, Observations on the Vultur Californianus of Shaw, by David Douglas, F.L.S. Zoological Journal, 1829. Observations on some species of Tetrao and Ortyx, natives of North America, by David Douglas, F.R.S. Read December, 1828. Linnean Transactions, vol. XVI. pp. 1—133. An. 1829. Traité Elémentaire d'Histoire Naturelle, par Constant Dumeril. 4to. Paris. 1830, Botanical Miscellany, by Will. Jackson Hooker, LL.D., &c. Lond. 1828, et seq. A Description of Australian Birds in the Collection of the Linnean Society, by N. A. Vigors, Esq., and Thomas Horsfield, M.D. Read June 21, 1825, and Jan., 1826. Linnean Transactions, vol. XV. p.170. An. 1826. Prodromus Systematis Mammalium et Avium, Caroli Illigeri. Berolini, 1811. quoted by Wagler. A General Synopsis of Birds with two Supplements, by John Latham, M.D. Lond. 8 vols. 4to. An. 1781—1802. Index Ornithologicus studio Joannis Latham. 1790. Suppl. 1801. General History of Birds. 10 vol. 4to. An. 1821—1824. Catalogue of the British Museum. MSS. quoted by authors. quoted from Bonaparte. Manuel d'Ornithologie, par R. P. Lesson. Paris, 1828. Birds of New Holland. Thin folio. Lond. 1822. On the different species of Larus, by William Macgillivray, A.M. Read January, 1824. Wernerian Transactions, V., p.247. An. 1824. 1 Ixvi MeErREM MeveER 6 Monraeu . OrpD Ray SaBINE (Jos.) . Sapine (Capt. Ep.) SAVIGNY Say 99 SELBY . SHaw . SONNINI STEPHENS . SwaAINsON TEMMINCK 9 VAILLANT . VIEILLOT . V1GoRS WAGLER WILSON Witson (J.) LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. Avium rariorum et minus cognitorum Icones et Descriptiones auctore Blaise Merrem. 4to. Leipzig, 1786. Taschenbuch. Quoted from Temminck. Ornithological Dictionary, by George Montagu, F.L.S. 3 vols. 1802—1813. Editor of the 9th vol. of Wilson’s Ornithology, and also of a new edition of that work. Synopsis Methodica Avium et Piscium, auctore J. Ray. London, 1713. Account of a new Species of Gull, by Joseph Sabine, F.R.S., &. Read Dec.1818. Linnean Transactions, vol. XII. An. 1818. Memoir on the Birds of Greenland, by Captain Edward Sabine, F.R.S. Read April, 1819. Linnean Transactions, XII. An. 1818. Mémoires sur les Oiseaux de l’Egypte, par Jules Cesar Savigny. Quoted from Temminck. Zoological Notices in Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Vide vol. I. Faun. Bor. Am. p. xli. Ornithological Notices in a Narrative of an Expedition to the source of St. Peter's River, by Major Stephen H. Long. London, 1825. Illustrations of Ornithology. Part I. Land Birds. Edinb. 1 vol. 8vo. 1825. Naturalist’s Miscellany, by George Shaw, M.D. London, 1789, et seq. Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, par Buffon. Ed. Sonnini. 28 vol. 8vo. Paris, An. xil. Shaw’s General Zoology, continued by J. F. Stephens. 1826, &c. Synopsis of Mexican Birds. Philosophical Magazine, No. XV., for June, 1827. Zoological Illustrations. First Series. 3 vol. 8vo. 1820—1823. Second Series, 16 numbers, now in course of publication. Observations on the Order Passeres, by William Swainson, Esq. In vol. VIII. of Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom, translated by Griffith. Monograph of the Tyrant Shrikes of America, in the Journal of the Royal Insti- tution, No. XL. Manuel d’Ornithologie, précédé de l'Analyse, &c., par C.J. Temminck. Amst. 2 vols. 2™° ed. An. 1820. Eepcle: cee des Oiseaux, par C.J. Temminck et M. Meifran de Laugier. aris. Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique. 6 vols. 4to. 1799, et suiv. Histoire des Oiseaux de l’Amérique Septentrionales par L. P. Vieillot. Paris, 1807. Galerie des Oiseaux. 4to. Analyse @’ Ornithologie Elementaire. Paris, 1816. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle. Ency. Méthodique, art. Ornithologie. 3 vol. 4to. Birds of Cuba. Zool. Journ., Dec. 1827. | Species Avium. American Ornithology, by Alexander Wilson. 9 vols. An. 1808—1814. Phila- delphia. Illustrations of Zoology, by James Wilson, F.R.S.E, Edinburgh. FAUNA BOREALI-AMERICANA. ene Be Bal RDS. VOL. IL. =f NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. PART II. ON BES. RAPTORES. VULTURIDA.—_VULTURES. fte| 1. Sarcorampuus CairorniAnus. (Vigors.) Californian Vulture. Genus. Sarcoramphus. DUMERIL. Vultur Californianus. Suaw. Naé. Mis., ix., pl. 301. Californian Vulture. Latu. Syn. Suppl, ii, p. 3. Vultur Californianus. IpEm. Jnd. Suppl., p 2. Buzzard. Lewis & Crank. Journ., &c.. iii, p. 48, No. 4. Cathartes Vulturinus. Trem. Pl. col. 31. Cathartes Californianus. Bonap. Syn., p. 22. Sarcoramphus Californianus. Vic. Zool. Journ., ii., p. 375. Vultur Californianus. Doucias. Zool. Journ., iv., January, 1829, p. 328. Tuts great Vulture is an inhabitant of the shores of the Pacific, and was first introduced to the notice of naturalists by Mr. Menzies, who brought a specimen from California, and deposited it in the British Museum. It has not been dis- covered to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and I can, consequently, make no addition to its history from personal observation ; but Mr. David Douglas has given an interesting account of the habits of the species in the Zoological Journal, from which the following notices are extracted. He represents it as a common bird in the woody districts of California, which he met with in the summer as far north as the forty-ninth degree of latitude ; but nowhere so abundantly as in the valley of the Columbia, between the Grand Rapids and the sea. ‘‘ They build,” he says, ‘‘ in the most secret and impenetrable parts of the pine forests, invariably selecting the loftiest trees that overhang the precipices on the deepest B 2 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. and least accessible parts of the mountain valleys. The nest is large, composed of strong thorny twigs and grass, in every way similar to the nests of the eagle tribe, but more slovenly constructed. The same pair resort for several years to the same nest, bestowing little trouble or attention in repairing it. They lay two nearly spherical jet-black eggs, about the size of those of a goose. They hatch generally about the first of June, and the period of incubation is twenty-nine or thirty-one days. The young are covered with thick whitish down, and are incapable of leaving the nest until the fifth or sixth week. Their food is carrion, or dead fish: in no instance will they attack any living animal, unless it be wounded and unable to walk. Their senses of smelling * and seeing are remarkably keen. In searching for prey, they soar to a great altitude, and on discovering a wounded deer, or other animal, they follow its track until it sinks, when they descend preci- pitately on their object. Although only one bird may be at first in possession of the carcass, few minutes elapse before the prey is surrounded by great numbers, and it is then devoured to a skeleton within an hour, even should it be one of the larger animals, a stag, for instance, or a horse. Their voracity is almost insa- tiable, and they are extremely ungenerous, suffering no other animal to approach them while feeding. After eating they become so sluggish and indolent, as to remain in the same place until urged by hunger to go in quest of another repast. At such times, they perch on decayed trees, with their heads so much retracted, as to be with difficulty observed through the long, loose, lanceolate feathers of the collar. The wings, at the same time, hang down over the feet. This position they invariably preserve in dewy mornings, or after rains. Except after eating, or while guarding their nest, they are so excessively wary, that the hunter can scarcely ever approach sufficiently near even for buck-shot to take effect on them, the fulness of the plumage affording them a double chance of escaping uninjured. Their flight is slow, steady, and particularly graceful, gliding along with scarcely any apparent motion of the wings, the tips of which are curved upwards in flying. They are seen in greatest numbers, and soar highest, before hurricanes or thunder-storms. Their quills are used by the hunters as tubes for tobacco-pipes.”’ DESCRIPTION Of male and female specimens shot by Mr. Douglas, in lat. 453° N., and now in the Museum of the Zoological Society. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is a size larger. Cotour of the plumage in general brownish-black. On the back and lesser wing-coverts the feathers have narrow margins of pale umber-brown. A white band crosses the wing on * Mr. Audubon, in a highly interesting paper published in the Edin. Ph. Journal, states, that the Vultures are entirely guided by sight, and not by smell, in the discovery of their food. VULTURID&, 3 the tips of the greater coverts. The tail is black to the extremity. The feathers clothing the lower part of the neck, and those on the breast, have each a narrow, pale, shining streak along its shaft, which contributes to give them a more pointed appearance. There is a white longitudinal band on the flank, and a broader one, opposite to it, on the lining of the wing, that includes the whole of the greater inner coverts. Thighs black. Bill glossy yellow. «© Trides pale red, and the pupils light green.” A triangular space, between the nostrils and crown of the head, is rather thinly clothed with short black hairy feathers; and there are also a few feathers on the lores, but the rest of the head and neck is covered with smooth naked skin, which, on the former, ‘‘ has a deep orange colour, and on the latter a brownish- yellow, with bluish changeable tints.” Legs bluish-black. Form, &c.—The head is small, scarcely exceeding the neck in diameter. The Dill is three inches and a half long; the ridge of the upper mandible is straight, and is produced to its hooked tip, nearly in the same line with the flattish crown of the head ; its cutting margin is un- dulated, there being an obtuse lobe immediately anterior to the cere ; and another smaller one, but equally well marked, on the horny part of the mandible. The line of union of the point of the bill with the cere, is deeply indented, the former sending an angular process backwards towards each nostril. ‘The angle of the mouth does not extend quite so far back as the orbit. The nostrils, of an oblong-oval form, are longitudinal, with a slight degree of obliquity, and are situated rather nearer the ridge of the mandible than to its cutting margin. The auditory opening is semi-oval and naked. The feathers on the base of the neck have lengthened lan- ceolate tips, and those immediately adjoining the naked skin stand out, so as to form a kind of ruff, from which there is a gradual transition to the smooth-lying plumage of the breast. All these feathers have detached flexible barbs, their tips alone being more compact. The naked skin extends down to the crop on the forepart of the neck, but it is not so conspicuous below as in the Black Vulture (Cathartes atratus), being nearly concealed by the ruff just mentioned. The folded wings reach a little beyond the tail; the third quill feather is the longest. The tail is even, and consists of fourteen feathers, which are rounded at the ends. The tars? are naked, and are protected anteriorly by large oblong transverse scales, or scutelli. The toes are long and slender, and are scutellated above, nearly their whole length. The middle one is the longest, and it is connected to the lateral ones at the base by webs. The hind toe is short. The nails are short, and slightly curved. Dimensions, Copied from Mr. Douglas. Inches. Inches. Length A . ° : 6 56 Circumference of the neck . : 9 Circumference of the body . a sa 40 Length of the body 3 ¢ 5 : 24 Length of the beak . 0 . b 35 Extent between the tips of the wings, (9 ft. 8in.) 116 Circumference of the head . . Sahl 9 Length of the tarsus. . 6 . 43 Length of the neck . : : : 1] Of the tall’. ; : pete 15 Dimensions Of the larger specimen when mounted. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail 48 Length of the bill, following its curve from tip to » of the tail . . . 4 16 nostrils . 5 . ¢ 4 3 5, of the bill from the angle of the mouth . 3 B 2 4 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [2.] 1. Carnartes Aura. (Illiger.) Turkey-Vulture. Genus. Cathartes. ILLicER. Turkey-Vulture, or Turkey-Buzzard. (Vudtur aura.) WIson, ix., p. 96, pl. 75, f. 1. Cathartes Aura. ILLicer. Prod., p 236. Bonar. Syn., p. 22. Wannah-keeoo (Bald-head). Cree Inpians. Wilson informs us, that in the northern and middle sections of the United States, the Turkey-Vultures are partially migratory, the greater part retiring south on the approach of cold weather ; but that considerable numbers remain all winter as far north as New Jersey. They breed, he says, in the month of May, among the secluded swamps of that State; the female laying two or four eggs of a soiled-white colour, splashed all over with chocolate mingled with blackish touches, particularly towards the great end. The place selected for the nest is generally the decayed stump of a tree; the male watches while the female sits ; and, if not disturbed, they will occupy the same breeding-place for several years. The young are clothed with a whitish down, and have the habit, when handled, of vomiting the offensive contents of their stomachs upon their incautious dis- turber. The Turkey-Vulture is said to be an occasional visitant of Nova Scotia, and Lewis and Clark observed it on the banks of the Columbia *. In the interior of the continent, however, its summer migrations reach a considerably higher latitude than they do either on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, owing, probably, to the greater warmth of the summer in the inland districts more speedily pro- ducing the necessary putrefaction in the animal substances on which it feeds. Following the direction of the Prairie Lands lying on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, it reaches the banks of the Saskatchewan, in the fifty- third parallel of latitude, late in the month of June, after the arrival of most of * The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. David Douglas: — “ The Vultur Aura, or Common Turkey-Buzzard, is an exceedingly rare bird on the North-west coast of America. The few that I saw were on the low plains of the Multnomah, in the autumn and winter of 1826. Apparently it dis- pears at all other seasons ; and, consequently, can be regarded as merely a bird of passage in that country. Lewis and Clark more than once mention this bird in their narrative; but, great as their authority ought to be respecting this common bird of the United States, I am induced to think that they mistook the Vultur Atratus for it. as the latter is one of the most common birds west of the mountains. On the low marshy islands of the Columbia, a solitary Vultur Aura is sometimes seen shunning and shunned by all others of his kindred. The Black Vulture, though a smaller bird, is bolder, masters the Turkey-Buzzard, and drives him away from the carrion. These two birds are assuredly distinct species, not varieties, as some have supposed. In Upper Canada, near Sandwich and Lake St. Clair, in 1823, I saw vast numbers of the V. Aura, and had every opportunity of watching their habits, to say nothing of the evident differences in their size and colour, and their dissimilar modes of nesting.’ —D. D. VULTURIDE. 5 the other summer birds. In the southern districts, where the Turkey Vultures are permanent residents, they are gregarious, roost in flocks, and are often seen in companies, soaring to an immense height; but on the banks of the Saskat- chewan seldom more than one pair are seen at a time; and they were described to me as being in the habit of sailing along with great rapidity, in undulated lines, under the high banks of the river. I quitted that part of the country too early in the season to have an opportunity of seeing them; but the species has been identified by a specimen from thence preserved in the Museum of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The food of the Turkey Vulture is carrion, which it discovers from a great dis- tance; and, when it has an opportunity, it will gorge itself to such a degree, as to be incapable of rising. It seldom or never attacks living animals, and is highly beneficial to the districts it frequents, by removing putrid substances. DESCRIPTION Of the Specimen in the Hudson’s Bay Museum. Cotour, brownish-black, deepest on the neck, breast, belly, and between the scapularies. There are some purplish reflexions on the dorsal aspect, with a considerable degree of metallic lustre. The scapularies, secondaries, and greater and lesser wing-coverts, have paler margins. The quill feathers are brownish-black, with light umber-brown shafts ; underneath they are lead-coloured. The tail is blacker. The naked parts of the head and neck are reddish, the legs are flesh-coloured, and the claws have a dark horn-colour. Form, &c.—The bill measures, from the angle of the mouth, two inches and a quarter, and is moderately thick and straight from its base to beyond its middle. The upper man- dible is covered by cere for more than half its length, and its ridge is slightly arched ; its horny point, an inch long, swells out a little, and has a more decided curvature ; the cutting margin is undulated, the hook which terminates it is rather small. The under mandible has a deep spout-shaped cavity for the lodgment of its grooved tongue, and its tip is rounded. The nostrils, large, oval, naked, and pervious, are longitudinal, and placed nearer to the ridge of the mandible than to its cutting edge*. The wrinkled skin of the head and upper part of the neck is thinly clothed with short black hairs, mixed, on the upper aspect, with down of the same colour. The plumage of the lower part of the neck is full and compact, like that of the back, the feathers being rounded and closely tiled, not pointed and forming a ruff, as in the Californian Vulture; and the line of junction of the naked skin directly encircles the neck; while, in the Black Vulture, it descends obliquely in front. The crop is naked and wrinkled, but is concealed by the plumage of the neck swelling over it. The tips of the folded wings reach to the end of the tail; the third and fourth quill feathers are the longest; the second and fifth are half an inch shorter; and the first is shorter than * The Egyptian Vulture has a more slender bill, with an even cutting margin, and oblong transverse nostrils. The Black Vulture has a bill of an intermediate form, between that of the Turkey Vulture and Egyptian species, 6 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. the sixth, but considerably longer than the seventh. The inner webs of the first four quill feathers are narrowed or sinuated from near their middles; and the outer webs, from the second to the fifth inclusive, are also narrowed. ‘The tail is rounded, the exterior feathers being an inch and a half shorter than the middle ones. The tarsi are naked, strong, and not very long, and are covered with small rounded convex scales. The toes are long, particularly the middle one, which is covered above to the base by transverse shield-shaped scales; the first phalanx of the outer toe is reticulated; the lateral toes are nearly eyual to each other in length, and more than an inch shorter than the middle one, to the first phalanx of which they are connected by webs, the outer web being most conspicuous. The posterior toe is more slender and shorter than any of the anterior ones. The nails are moderately strong, short, and slightly curved. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the point of the bill to the end of to the tip of the bill, in a straight the tail : : : OL 0 line t 2 5 2 3 5, Of the bill from the angle of the mouth 2 3 Length of the longest quill feather . - 17 0 5, Of the bill, measured along its ridge 2 6 >> of the tarsus d 5 . 2 6 >, of the horny tip of the bill 1 0 5, Of the middle toe and its claw . - 3 3 5, of the long diameter of the nostrils . 0 6 5, Of the claw alone 0 9 5, from the anterior margin of the orbit, 55 Of the hind-toe and claw A eel 2 [3.] 2. CaruHartes atratus. (Nobis.) Black Vulture. Genus. Cathartes. ILLIGER. Black Vulture, or Carrion Crow (Vultur Atratus). Wu1soNn, ix., p. 104, pl. 75, fig. 2. Cathartes Iota*. Bonaparte, Syn. p. 22, sp. 5. L’Urubu. (Sub-genus, Les Percnoptéres.) Cuvier. Regn. An.,i., p. 317. Carrion Crow. UNITED STATES. I did not meet with this bird, nor have I seen specimens of it brought from the districts to which this work is confined ; but it is introduced here on the authority of Mr. David Douglas, who says,-—‘* Throughout the whole of the country that I visited to the west of the Rocky Mountains, the Black Vulture was, I might say, daily seen. In the upper countries around Spokan, Oakanagan, and on Lewis and Clark’s River, the plains of the Multnomah, and at Puget Sound, near camps or Indian villages, on the banks of rivers abounding with fish, or in * We have not considered it expedient to apply to this bird the specific name of Jota, given by Mollina to a Black Vulture of Chili. In the first place, there is no evidence to prove that it is the same as the Turkey-Buzzard of North America ; and secondly, it must be remembered that the work of this author was “ fait de mémoire en Italie, et fort suspect en plusieurs endroits.”” (Cuvier, Reg. An. iv., p. 143.) Sw. VULTURID&. 7 places where deer are numerous, this bird is common *.” Mr. Ord informs us, that ‘‘ the Black Vultures are indolent, and may be observed in companies, loitering for hours together in one place. They do not associate with the Turkey Vultures, and are much darker in their plumage ; their mode of flight also varies from that of the latter.. The Black Vulture flaps its wings five or six times rapidly, then sails with them extended nearly horizontally ; the Turkey Buzzard seldom flaps its wings, and when sailing they form an angle, with the body upwards. The latter, though found in the vicinity of towns, rarely ventures within them, and then always appearing cautious of the near approach of any one. It is not so impatient of cold as the former, and is likewise less lazy. The Black Vulture on the ground hops along very awkwardly ; the Turkey Buzzard, though seemingly inactive, hops along with an even gait. The latter, unless pressed by hunger, will not eat of a carcass until it becomes putrid; the former is not so fastidious, but devours animal food without distinction.”—‘‘ The Black Vulture builds its nest in the large trees of low wet swamps, to which places they retire every evening to rest.” DESCRIPTION, From Wilson’s American Ornithology. ** The Black Vulture is twenty-six inches in length, and four feet four inches in extent. The bill is two inches and a half long, of a dark horn-colour for near an inch; the re- mainder, the head, anda part of the neck, are covered with a black, wrinkled, caruncled skin, beset with short black hairs, and downy behind. Nostril an oblong slit. Irides reddish- hazel. The throat is dashed with yellow ochre. The general colour of the plumage is of a dull black, except the primaries, which are whitish on the inside, and have four of their broadened edges below of a drab, or dark cream colour, extending two inches, which is seen only when the wing is unfolded ; the shafts of the feathers white on both sides. The wings, when folded, are about the length of the tail, the fifth feather being the longest ; the secon- daries are two inches shorter than the tail, which is slightly forked, the exterior feathers three- quarters of an inch longer than the rest. The legs are limy, three inches and a half in length, and, with the feet, are thick and strong; the middle toe is four inches long, side toe two inches, and considerably webbed ; inner toe rather the shortest; claws strong, but not sharp, like those of the Falco genus; middle claw three-quarters of an inch long. The stomach is not lined with hair, as reported. When opened, this bird smells strongly of musk.”’ * See Note, p. 4. 8 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. FALCONIDAL.—FALCONS. In contemplating the diurnal birds of prey, arranged by Linnzeus under the genus Falco, we can be at no loss to discover the two typical forms in the Toothed- billed Falcons and the Sparrow-hawks. Their peculiarities did not escape the notice even of the earliest systematic writers, and the moderns have only confirmed the justness of the distinction. But, with regard to the remaining groups, much diversity of opinion still exists ; not, indeed, as regards the leading divisions, for here likewise the ancients had long ago anticipated our distinctions between the Eagles, Kites, and Buzzards. It is not, therefore, to these groups, taken per se, that any doubts can attach on their respective peculiarities, but rather as to their relative rank with those that are considered typical. These doubts can only be solved by analysis. Were our national or public museums sufficiently rich in species of this family, to allow of this being done, we might hope to gain just conceptions of nature; but such materials are not at present within the reach of our ornithologists. Indeed, so lamentably deficient are our sources of information on this head, ‘‘ that, of near three hundred described species, not a sixth part is to be consulted in the national repository. of this kingdom *.” In such a state of things, it is obvious that all attempts to characterize the minor types of form, or to detect the true series of natural affinities, must be viewed with great caution, and lie open to much objection, particularly when opposed to other opinions, founded upon an intimate acquaintance with forms, not in our museums. But if our ideas on the characters and value of the different groups, and on their natural combinations, are, from necessity, so imperfect, still more hazardous is it to attempt the location of species from the mere descriptions and figures to be found in books. We may, indeed, make some approximation to truth, by thus bringing together species which, in many cases, are obviously allied; but the situation of by far the greater portion must be problematical : and, unless we dis- tinctly state how far we have been guided by actual examination, and how far by mere supposition, the reader who wishes to know upon what points he may place reliance, and upon what he may safely doubt, is left completely in the dark. It is from an attentive consideration of these difficulties, that we have been * Zool. Journ., i., p. 3ll. a FALCONIDE. 9 induced to dissent from several modern writers in our opinions upon this family. That the various forms of which it is composed, exhibit, as a whole, a circular succession of affinities, has been sufficiently proved ; but the true series of the secondary groups, among themselves, has not yet been made out. The reason is obvious :—the British school of naturalists, as before stated, want the means, while those of the continent (possessing, in their superb museums, the greatest advantages) have not the inclination to undertake the enquiry. Yet our in- ability to state in what way the Falcons or Hawks form their own respective circles, cannot militate against the belief, that such is their true distribution. It remains, therefore, to be considered, whether there is presumptive evidence to believe that the three remaining divisions, namely, the Buzzards, Kites, and Eagles, form one circular group, independent of their affinity to the two former. The true Buzzards, of which the Vulgaris and the Lagopus may pro- bably be types, are slender, long-winged birds; the bill is small, short, and considerably curved: in this structure they agree with the true Falcons, yet they are well known to be distinguished from them, by wanting the toothed-bill, and by the shortness and graduated abbreviation of the exterior quill-feathers. Now, if Nature had proceeded in a simple course, from the ‘Buzzards to the Falcons, we should have bad birds uniting the distinctions of both, variously mo- dified. Both these groups being composed, in their typical examples, of slender long-winged birds, with short bills, any species exhibiting the reverse of such cha- racters, and intervening between the two forms, would certainly appear anomalous, on the supposition of a simple series of affinities being aimed at. Yet, that such birds are to be found, even among the few that we are subsequently to notice, is unquestionable. Let us, then, take the Buteo borealis, which, as being more allied to the Falcons than to the Kites, may be considered an intervening form between the Buteo vulgaris and Falco. We here see a large-sized, heavy bird, with shortened wings, not reaching to more than half the length of the tail ; while the elongated bill, unlike either that of Buteo or Falco, obviously assimi- lates to that lengthened form which belongs to the Eagles. Now, upon the sup- position that a bird so constructed is intended to fill up the interval between Buteo and Falco, and at the same time to unite the former with the Eagles, the singularity of its structure is no longer surprising: but if we consider it with a simple reference to the passage between Buteo and Falco, we are almost tempted to suspect that, in this instance, a real sa/tws has been made. While upon this subject, we may cite an acute observation made by Prince C. Buonaparte, that “the Borealis is almost as much an Astur of the first section, as a Buteo ;”’ a c 10 - NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. proof, at least, that its affinities to Astur and to the aberrant Kagles adjoining that group, have not escaped observation. Our idea, that the Buzzards are truly united to the Eagles, is-still further strengthened by the Buteo pterocles, Temm., of which a fine series of specimens, from Mexico, has been submitted to our inspection by John Taylor, Esq., F.R.S., &c. In this species, the wings, as in Butco, are remarkably long, but the bill is so considerably lengthened, that were we to judge alone from this member, we should have no scruple in placing the bird among the Aquile. On the other hand, it must be remembered, that as every group, from the highest to the lowest denomination, when perfect, contains a represen- tation of the othér four, united to a form peculiar to itself; so we might naturally expect that one division of the Buzzards would represent the true Eagles. To ascertain, therefore, whether the resemblances above stated are those of ana- logy, or of real affinity, recourse must be had to strict analysis. Now this, in our present state of knowledge, cannot be done, at least from the resources to be found in this country. We have thought it advisable to cite the above facts, drawn from the structure of the birds themselves, as likely to awaken the atten- tion of ornithologists to a further investigation of the subject ; they will, at least, show that our opinion on the unity of the three aberrant groups, is not entirely without foundation. In regard to the relative value of the whole group, we consider it equivalent to that of Vudtur or of Strix in its own order, and to the families composing the Rasores, Grallatores, and Natatores. We shall, therefore, in conformity with this impression, contemplate the five principal divisions as genera, arranging the sub- ordinate forms, which have been by some naturalists elevated to that rank, as sub-genera ;—an uniformity of nomenclature between groups of the same appa- rent rank will thus be preserved. But it is not this consideration alone which has influenced our decision. Diversified as are the forms among the Falconide, they are certainly not more so than what may be observed among the Trochilida. Both these families are so strongly marked, that the veriest tyro in the science can never mistake them; but the Falcons, from their imposing size, by which their peculiarities are rendered more apparent, have attracted more attention, and have been divided and subdivided, until one-half of the modern genera contain but a single species: while the Trochilide, exhibiting among themselves a much greater diversity of structure, have only lately been arranged under their primary groups *. If, then, we are to adopt, as genera, all the minor divisions that have been proposed * Zool. Journ., ili, p. 357. FALCONIDE. oe: 1] among the Falconidw, we should proceed upon the same principle of nomen- clature with the Trochilidw ; and in place of limiting the generic distinctions of these latter birds to five, increase the number to twenty;five, as soon as the subordinate types have been detected. We believe that the warmest advo- cates for generic distinctions would protest against such a measure ; and we feel . assured that, by the great body of ornithologists, such an innovation would, on no account, be tolerated. It is unfortunate for those who, like ourselves, may be accused of proposing new genera, that in no one department in ornithology has this principle been pushed to such a point of refinement as among the Falconda ; and as very many forms, equally deserving generic appellations,.must be named and characterized, to render the nomenclature of this family consistent with the adoption of these genera, suspect that the reproach cast upon the modern school, of making every species a genus, would, in this instance at least, be not altogether unmerited. ? In considering the five forms of the Falconde as genera, rather than as sub- families, we by no means insinuate that the minor distinctions which have been dwelt upon by several able ornithologists who have investigated this family, are either trivial, or that they deserve not to be brought immediately before us. On the contrary, we should recommend to others the plan which we ourselves adopt,— the minute examination of every change of structure, and the assembling together, in minor groups, such species as agree in certain peculiarities. Nay, further, we should proceed, in certain cases, even to impose a name upon such groups. But, in a family already so crowded by generic names, we consider it essential to preserve a distinction between groups of unequal value ; and not to elevate sub- genera, or forms of transition, to a rank they do not hold. Milvago, Polyborus, Daptrius, and Ibycter, are unquestionably of the latter description, each con- fined but to one species. We have another of the same natural group in our own cabinet, equally deserving a patronymic name. By regarding these as genera, each is made equivalent, for instance, to the whole genus of typical Falcons ; whereas, by representing them as lesser variations, which in truth they are, the student immediately perceives that their station is subordinate. A further advantage is gained by this principle of nomenclature: we shall be unshackled in characterizing those minor forms or groups which yet remain to be designated ; while, by not bringing them forward to a prominent station in our arrangement, we shall assimilate our nomenclature more to the wishes and opinions of the majority of naturalists, without in the least sacrificing that minuteness and precision, which the student of nature can scarcely carry too far. Sw. C2 12 , NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [4.] 1, Aquita CurysaEtos? The Golden Eagle. Genus. Aquila ANTIQUORUM. CUVIER. Golden Eagle. PENN. Arct. Zool., i., p. 225, No. 86. White Eagle. Ipem. i, p. 229, No. 90. Falco fulvus. Latru. Jnd.,i., p. 10, sp. 4. Falco candidus. IpEM. i., p. 14, sp. 17. ? variety. % The Calumet Eagle. Lewis & CLarxk. Journ., &c., iti., p. 55, No. 20. Ring-tail Eagle) Witson. Am. Orn. vii., p. 13, pl. 55, f. 1. Young. Falco fulvus. TEmMinck. i, p. 38. Buonar. Syn., p. 24. Live specimen in the Zoo1.oGicaL GarDENs brought from the Rocky Mountains. Eagle, No. 31. Hudson’s Bay Company's Museum. Keoo. Cree INDIANS. This powerful bird breeds in the recesses of the sub-alpine country which skirts the Rocky Mountains, and is seldom seen farther to the eastward. It is held by the aborigines of America, as it is by almost every other people, to be an emblem of might and courage ; and the young Indian warrior glories in his eagle plume as the most honourable ornament with which he can adorn himself. Its feathers are attached to the calumets, or smoking pipes, used by the Indians in the celebra- tion of their solemn festivals, which has obtained for it the name of the Calumet Eagle. Indeed, so highly are these ornaments prized, that a warrior will often exchange a valuable horse for the tail feathers of a single eagle *. The strength of vision of this bird must almost exceed conception, for it can discover its prey and pounce upon it from a height at which it is itself, with its expanded wings, scarcely visible to the human eye. When looking for its prey, it sails in large circles, with its tail spread out, but with little motion of its wings; and it often soars aloft in a spiral manner, its gyrations becoming gradually less and less per- ceptible, until it dwindles to a mere speck, and is at length entirely lost to the view. A story is current, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, of a half-breed Indian, who was vaunting his prowess before a band of his countrymen, and wishing to impress them with a belief of his supernatural powers. In the midst of his harangue an Eagle was observed suspended as it were in the air directly over his head, upon which, pointing aloft with his dagger, which glistened brightly in the sun, he called upon the royal bird to come down. To his own amazement, no less than to the consternation of the surrounding Indians, the Eagle seemed to obey * Lewis and Clark inform us that the Ricaras Indians have domesticated the Eagle, in many instances, for the pur- pose of procuring its plumage. FALCONID#. ; 13 the charm, for instantly, shooting down with the velocity of an arrow, it impaled itself on the point of his weapon ! The Golden Eagle is said to build its nest on rocks or on very lofty trees, and to lay two, or more rarely three, eggs of a soiled-white colour. It preys chiefly on the young of the mountain sheep, fawns, hares, &c., and is scarcely ever observed to feed on carrion. The American Golden Eagle has seldom been sepa- rated by naturalists from the European one; but a nominal species has been assigned to both countries, under the name of the Ring-tail, which is, in fact, the young Golden Eagle, distinguished by the base of its tail being white until it reaches its third year. The Ring-tails, probably owing to their being less wary, are much oftener shot than the old birds, and I have not seen an American spe- cimen of the latter, although Prince C. Buonaparte mentions his having obtained one from the Rocky Mountains along with several Ring-tails. Pennant and Latham, on the authority of Mr. Hutchins, mention this bird as an inhabitant of Hudson’s Bay ; but it is a very rare and casual visitant of the districts that were frequented by the Hudson’s Bay fur-traders in Pennant’s time, and Mr. Hutchins’s manuscript Notices, to which I have had access, evidently refer to the F. leucocephalus. Even Pennant himself, who seems to have been Mr. Hutchins’s guide in applying the scientific names to the Hudson’s Bay birds, has figured a young Sea Eagle (F. aldicilla) for the Golden Eagle in his British Zoology. The White Eagle * mentioned by Du Pratz in the History of Louisiana was probably a variety of the Golden Eagle, corresponding to the White Eagle of the Swiss _ Alps noticed by Brisson. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen, supposed to be under three years of age, shot by Mr. Drummond, in lat. 55°, on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, as it was in the act of pouncing upon a small dog. Cotour.—The head and neck are covered by slender pointed feathers, which are white at their bases, dusky-brown in their middles, and have yellowish-brown points. The general colour of the plumage on the dorsal aspect is dull liver-brown, without spots or shadings, except when some of the feathers are ruffled, and their white bases appear. The greater coverts and sca- pularies are of a more faded brown than the rest of the upper plumage, and the quill feathers are darker, approaching to blackish-brown. The base of the inner webs of the first six quill feathers are white ; and on the seventh, eighth, and ninth, the white extends to both webs. The wing underneath is hair-brown, with an imperfect white band on the bases of the sixth and subsequent quill feathers. The fail is white at the base, blackish-brown towards the end, and narrowly tipped with white. The brown occupies less space on the two middle feathers, not exceeding one-sixth of their length, and is sprinkled with white. The outer feathers are * Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., p.97. Falco candidus. Laru. Ind., i, p. 15. + Falco albus. GMELIN. Syst., p.257. F.cygneus. Laru. Ind., i. p. 14. 14 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. brown for one-third of their length, and the others have an intermediate quantity. The brown does not join the white in an even line across the tail, as in Wilson’s figure, but runs into a peak along the shafts of the more exterior feathers; while in the central ones the reverse is the case, the white being prolonged, on the shaft, into the brown, There are some white feathers about the vent. Biull soiled bluish-grey. Cere yellow. Tris hair-brown. Feet yellowish. Claws black. Form, &c.—The bill, strong and much hooked at the point, is compressed, with its sides inclined so as to produce a narrow, but not acute, ridge. There is a very obtuse lobe on the cutting margin of the mandible, posterior to the commencement of the hook. The nostrils are small, of an oval form, and have a transverse direction. The space between the orbit and nostrils is covered with black hairs arranged in a radiated manner. The eyebrow is prominent and the crown of the head flattened. The wings are shorter than the tail. The fifth quill feather is the longest; the fourth nearly equals it; the third is equal to the sixth; the second is intermediate between the sixth and seventh ; and the first is a little longer than the eighth, but considerably shorter than the seventh.* The first six have their inner webs suddenly, and their outer webs, with the exception of the first, obliquely sinuated. In the first feather the sinu- ation commences near the base, but in each succeeding one it is nearer the point, being, in the fourth, about the middle, and in the sixth near the tip. The fadl is rounded. The tarsi are short and strong, and are closely covered to the root of the toes with short brownish-white fea- thers: the outer thigh feathers hang down to the soles of the feet. The toes are short, strong, and are protected above by three transverse large scales adjoining the claws, their bases being reticulated with small scales. The middle toe is the longest; the lateral ones are equal to each other and a little longer than the hind toe, which is the most robust. A short web con- nects the middle and outer toes. ‘The claws are strong, much curved, grooved beneath, and sharp-pointed: the middle one has a deep, sharp-edged furrow on its inner side. The hind claw and the inner one are much larger than the other two. Dimensions Of the specimen before it was set up. Inches. Lines, Inches. _ Lines. Length from point of the bill to the end of Length of the bill along the curve of its the tail . : d ¢ 42 0 ridge 7 . ° . . 2 3 Extent between the tips of the wings - 66 0 op tarsus 4 0 Length of the tail - : A . 39 middle toe 3 5 % longest quill feather . 5 PPA 0 a hind claw 6 5 5 cf) bill from the angle of the 39 ditto, followingits curvature 3 0 Mouth . c c . e 2 8 5D middle claw ] 6 The mature British F. chrysaétos has a dark blackish-brown tail and wings, blackish-brown back, clouded with brownish-black, and a paler and brighter brown head. JI have not seen an American one in this state. , * As might be expected in immature birds, differences in the relative lengths of the quill feathers are observable in the Ring tailed Eagles. In a specimen from the Rocky Mountains, in the Hudson’s Bay Museum, the fourth quill feather is the longest, and the third and fifth nearly equal it, the remainder having the proportions of those mentioned in the text. FALCONIDA. 15 [5.] 2. AeuILA (HALI£ZETUS) LEUCOCEPHALA. Bald Eagle. Genus. Aquila, ANTIQuoRUM. Swub-genus. Halietus. Savieny. White-tailed Eagle. (Aquila cauda-alba.) Epwarps, pl. 1. White-headed Eagle. Prnn.* -4rct. Zool., ii., p. 196, No. 89. Mature. Falco leucocephalus. Lara. Jnd.,i., p. 11, sp. 5. Mature. White-headed or Bald Eagle. (Falco leucocephalus.) Wu1soN, iv., p. 89, pl. 36. Adult. Sea Eagle. (Falco ossifragus.) IpEM, vii., p. 16, pl. 55, f. 2. Young. Falco leucocephalus. TEmM.,i., p. 25. Buonap. Syn., p. 26. Meekeeshew. (Name for the species.) Creer Inprans. Wapustiquan-Meekeeshew. (White-headed E.) IpEm. Mature bird. Appisk Meekeeshew. (Black-headed E.) Iprem. Immature. Meekeeseeseesh. IpEM. Yearling birds. Eagle, No. 23. Hupson’s Bay Museum. Old bird. Eagle, No. 29. Loco crrato. Young. This vigorous and rapacious bird is the earliest of the summer visitors to the fur countries, and the period of its arrival has given the name of Meekeeshew eepeeshim, or Kagle moon, to the month of March. Temminck assigns for its habitual residence the regions within the Arctic Circle, and Wilson observes that it is found at all seasons in the countries it inhabits. Both these assertions, however, require, I apprehend, to be taken with considerable latitude. We did not, on the late expeditions, meet with it to the north of the Great Slave Lake (latitude 62° N.), although it is common, in the summer, in the country extending from thence to Lake Superior, and its breeding-places in thelatter district are nume- rous. But in the month of October, when the rivers from which it draws its principal supply of food are frozen over, it entirely quits the Hudson’s Bay lands ; and if after that period it is to be seen in the northern regions, it can only be on the sea-coast and for a limited time while the sea continues unfrozen. It resides all the year in the United States, frequenting their whole extent of sea- coast and the shores of the large lakes and rivers ; and it is known to breed as far south as Virginia, but its nests do not appear to be so common within any part of the United States as they are in the fur countries. The favourite food of this bird is fish, caught alive; but it preys also on birds and the smaller quadrupeds ; nor does it disdain at times to feed on carrion; and it has been known to attack a Vulture in the air, and, having caused it to disgorge * Pennant, in his account of the Black Eagle of America, does not appear to have clearly distinguished between the Golden and Bald Eagles, and it is probable that his Black-cheeked Eagle may be referred also to the Bald Eagle. But the task of clearing away the difficulties attending these and many other synonymes that have reference to this bird seems to be as profitless as it is hopeless, Latham mentions the same species under the names of F’. Americanus and mélaneétus. 16 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. the nauseous contents of its craw, to snatch them up before they could reach the ground*, Like many of the Vultures, it has the custom, after a full meal, of sitting on its perch with its wings drooping down past its feet; and it often keeps its wings half open, with its breast turned to the breeze, as if to cool its skin heated by an abundant and stimulating repast. It takes the scaly objects of its pursuit by pouncing on them with its claws; and for this purpose it haunts rapids and cas- cades, where the fish, in the efforts they make to ascend the stream in the spawning season, are more exposed to its attacks. Its superior strength also enables it to turn the industry of the Osprey to account, by robbing it of its prey. The assaults it makes on this active bird are described with peculiar animation and a strong feeling of the beauties of Nature in the following extract from Wilson :— ** This distinguished bird, as he is the most beautiful of his tribe in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our country, is entitled to particular notice. He has long been known to naturalists, being common to both continents and occasionally met with from avery high northern latitude to the borders of the torrid zone. Formed by nature for braving the severest cold; feeding equally on the produce of the sea and of the land ; possessing powers of flight capable of outstripping even the tempests themselves ; unawed by any thing but man; and from the ethereal heights to which he soars looking abroad, at one glance, on an immeasurable expanse of forests, fields, lakes, and ocean, deep below him, he appears indifferent to the little localities of change of seasons, as in a few minutes he can pass from summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions of the atmosphere, the abode of eternal cold, and from thence descend at will to the torrid or the arctic regions of the earth. He is, therefore, found at all seasons in the countries he inhabits, but prefers such places as have been mentioned above, from the great partiality he has for fish. In procuring these he displays in a singular manner the genius and energy of his character, which is fierce, contem- plative, daring, and tyrannical,—attributes not exerted but on particular occasions, but, when put forth, overpowering all opposition. Elevated on the high dead limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations below: the snow-white Gulls, slowly winnowing the air; the busy Tring@, coursing along the sands ; trains of Ducks, streaming over the surface ; silent and watchful Cranes, intent and wading ; clamorous Crows, and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. * WILSON, iv., p. 89. FALCONIDA. 17 ‘High over all these hovers one whose action instantly arrests all his attention. By his wide curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in the air, he knows him to be the Fish-hawk, settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and balancing himself, with half-opened wings, on the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the object of his attention; the roar of its wings, reaching the ear as it dis- appears in the deep, making the surges foam around! At this moment the eager looks of the Eagle are all ardour; and, levelling his neck for flight, he sees the Fish-hawk once more emerge, struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exultation. These are the signal for our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the Fish-hawk ; each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencontres the most sublime aérial evolutions. The unencumbered Eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the Hagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods.” This vivid and highly poetical passage may be contrasted with the prosaic, though didactic notice of the same bird, by a great political sage. ** For my own part,” says Franklin, “ I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of a bad moral character ; he does not get his living honestly: you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labour of the Fishing- hawk ; and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all this injustice, he is never in good case, but, like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little King-bird, not bigger than a Sparrow, attacks him boldly, and drives him out of the district. He is, therefore, by no meansa proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have driven all the King-birds from our country ; though exactly fit for that order of knights whom the French call Chevaliers @ Industrie. 1am, on this account, not displeased that the figure is not known as the Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey.” The White-headed Eagle builds a rude nest of sticks, coarsely lined with hay, on the ledge of some inaccessible rock, generally overhanging a rapid, or on the D 18 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. borders of a lake ; or, in districts which do not afford a suitable cliff, it selects for the purpose a lofty, and for the most part a solitary tree. It lays one or two white eggs, and the male, according to the Indians, takes its turn with the female in the work of incubation. When the young ones are hatched, the industry with which the parents provide them with food is often attested by the air being tainted, to a considerable distance from the nest, by the smell of the fish that they are unable to consume. The period of incubation is over by the middle of May ; but the young require the aid of their parents in procuring food until the month of September. The Bald Eagle resembles the Golden Eagle in the form of its wings, that are obliquely truncated at the tips, the first feather being short, and the succeeding ones gradually increasing in length to the fourth or fifth, which are the longest; the remainder diminish successively, but less rapidly than the first ones increase. The wings are otherwise large and powerful, and their rounded form, though it may impair the rapidity of flight in a horizontal line, fits them better for soaring aloft in the atmosphere than the acutely-pointed wings of the true Falcons. The great size of the Eagles seems to render it necessary for them to watch their prey from a height at which they appear to be a mere speck when viewed from below, and they are accordingly endowed with an extraordinary acuteness of vision. So great is the similarity of the Bald Eagle to the Golden Eagle in certain states of plumage, that naturalists of no mean fame, as well as less instructed observers, have often mistaken the one for the other. The par- tially naked tarsi, however, of the Bald Eagle, with the sub-versatile outer toe entirely separated from the middle one, form ready marks of distinction, connected with its habit of seeking its prey in the waters ; and there is also some difference in the form of their bills, that of the Bald Eagle being more rounded on its ridge, with its sides less inclined to each other. It is more difficult to find characters that will serve to distinguish this species from the nearly allied one of the Cinereous Eagle, or A. albicilla, of Europe. The pure white head and tail of the A. leuco- cephala are sufficient to characterize the old bird ; but its young are so like those of the A. albicilla, that Temminck considers the only marked difference to be in the greater length of the tail of the former. On comparing the forms of the bills of living birds of each species, I could observe the margin of the upper mandible of the young A. leucocephala to be more nearly straight, there being only one very obtuse lobe adjoining to the hooked point, whilst in A. aldicilla the margin was rendered more undulated by the presence of a second lobe posterior to the prin- cipal one. ‘These differences were, however, very slight even in the birds that FALCONIDE. 19 were compared, and may not be perceptible in all the individuals of the two species. The mature Bald Eagle is rather a smaller bird, and has in proportion a smaller head, than the Cinereous Eagle ; its lores are more feathered ; and it has a feeble cheeping cry like a hawk, different from the more decided scream of the latter Eagle. Temminck informs us that the Cinereous Eagle is proper to Europe, while the White-headed Eagle is common to the northern hemispheres of both the Old and New Worlds, although it occurs more abundantly in the latter. DESCRIPTION Of a mature bird, killed at Hudson’s Bay. Cotour of the head, greater part of the neck, and of the tail, including its upper and under coverts and the vent feathers, pure white. The back, wing coverts, breast, belly, and thighs, are brownish-black, the margins of the feathers being paler, approaching to a soiled wood- brown tint. The quill feathers are brownish-black, with paler shafts. Bill straw-yellow. Cere greenish-yellow. Jrides wine-yellow. Tarsi yellow. Claws blackish-brown. Form, &c.—Bill three and a half inches long, and very strong, with a convex ridge curved in a regular arc from the cere to the tip. There is a very obtuse and slightly-prominent lobe on the cutting margin of the upper mandible, immediately beyond which the point of the bill droops abruptly to form its hook. The upper surface of the cere is flattened. The lores are clothed with short white hairs and feathers that project over the nostrils. The nostrils are large, oblong, with one softer margin, which moves as the bird respires ; and they have an obliquely transverse direction. The eyebrow projects considerably, and the eye is turned obliquely forwards. The feathers on the head are triangular, and towards the base of the neck they become long and pointed. The tips of the folded wings reach to the middle of the tail. The quill feathers are acute: the fourth is the longest, the third nearly equals it ; the fifth is about a quarter of an inch, and the second is more than an inch shorter than the fourth; the sixth is an inch shorter than the second, or an inch and three-quarters shorter than the fifth ; while the first is three inches and a half shorter than the second, and just exceeds the seventh, which is two inches and a half shorter than the sixth. The outer webs of these feathers, from the second to the sixth inclusive, are strongly sinuated; and the inner webs, from the first to the fifth inclusive, are still more deeply and abruptly emarginated. The fail is rounded. The tarsi are feathered for more than half their length ; their naked part is covered with small, rounded, convex scales at the base and behind, and is protected anteriorly next the feathers by five large transverse scales. The hind toe is short and strong, and is armed with a larger nail than the others. The inner fore toe is a little longer than the hind one, its claw being, however, somewhat smaller; the middle toe is considerably longer, but it is at the same time more slender and has a much smaller nail. The outer toe, though a little longer than the inner one, is the most slender and has the smallest nail of all. There are eight or ten large transverse shield-like scales on the middle toe, four on the hind and inner fore ones, and five on the outer one: all their bases are reticulated. The claws are strong, much curved, and acute; and the middle one has a sharp-edged groove on its inner side. D2 20 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Dimensions. Inches. _ Lines. Inches. _ Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the cere on the ridge of the bill 0 8 the tail G 0 4 : : 38 0 Distance between the eye and the nostril 1 9 >, of the tail 0 . : - 14 0 Length of the tarsus D : : 3 3 5, of the longest quill feather 5 22 0 of) hind claw in a straight line . 1 6 5, Of the bill, measured on itsridge . 3 6 Ke ditto, following its curvature 2 3 of 95 from the angle of the or middle toe 3 0 mouth 2 é : A : 3 6 on claw 1 3 A young bird, measuring also thirty-eight inches in length, had a black bill, and plumage mostly of a dull-brown, variegated with paler brown and some white. Its tail was blackish-brown, slightly mottled with white. It is said that these birds do not attain their perfect plumage, with a white head and tail, until they reach their fourth year. [6.] 3. AauILA (PaNnpion) Hatie#eta. The Osprey. Genus. Aquila. ANTIQUORUM. Sub-genus. Pandion. Savieny. Osprey, var. A. Carolina. Laru. Syn., i., p. 46, sp. 26. Ipem. Suppl. p. 13. Osprey. PENN. <Arct. Zool., ii, p. 199, No. 91. SELBy. Brit. Orn., i., p. 12, pl. 4. Falco Halievétus y Laru. Ind.,i., p. 18, sp. 30. Aquila Halieétus. MryEr. Tasch., i., p. 25. Fish-hawk, or Osprey. (Falco Halietus.) Wu.son. v., p. 1, pl. 37. Falco Halietus. Buonap. Syn., p. 26, No. 8. Common Brown Fishing-eagle. Hupson’s Bay RESIDENTS. Eethin-neesew. Cree INDIANS. This active and industrious fisher is well known in the fur countries as a fre- quenter of rapids and cascades during the summer season, particularly in rocky districts, in whose clear waters it can more readily discern its prey. It arrives in the months of March or April, and immediately commences building a new nest or re-occupies its old one, which is almost invariably on a tree, and is com- posed of long sticks, heaped on each other, and intermixed with large tufts of grass, roots, and other wrack, collected from the shores of the lakes. The choice that it makes of a breeding-place shows that it is not a distrustful bird, for it often places its nest near frequented paths and on a tree of very easy ascent. Wilson remarks that the purple grakles are permitted by this bird to build their nests amongst the interstices of the sticks of which its own is framed, where they hatch their young and live together in harmony. The same observation has been made FALCONIDA. 2] in the interior of the fur countries. ‘The Osprey lays two or three eggs of a pale cream-yellow colour, stained with blotches and spots of dull orange-brown. The young are hatched early in June, are upwards of two months old before they can fly, and are fed by the parent birds even after they quit the nest. Both young and old retire to the south in October. I did not ascertain the exact northern limits of the range of this species; but during our coasting voyage along the shores of the Arctic Sea we did not observe any kind-of Eagle, and Hearne says that none of them breed in the barren grounds north of Churchill. It seems less capable of bearing cold than the Bald Eagle, as it quits the United States on the approach of winter. Pennant informs us that it is very frequent in Kamtschatka, and it is probably equally so on the Pacific coast of North America, thus extending its range from the coast of Labrador quite across the continent. It lives almost exclusively on fish, which it takes alive, being very rarely observed to attack birds or quadrupeds, or to feed on carrion ; Wilson remarks, that it never even picks up a fish which it happens to drop either on land or water. When looking out for its prey, it sails with great ease and elegance, in undulating and curved lines, at a considerable altitude above the water, from whence it preci- pitates itself upon its quarry and bears it off in its claws; or it not unfrequently, on the fish moving to too great a depth, stops suddenly in its descent, and hovers for a few seconds in the air, like a kite or a kestril, suspending itself in the same spot by a quick flapping of its wings; it then makes a second and, in general, unerring dart upon its prey, or regains the former altitude by an elegant spiral flight. It seizes the fish with its claws, sometimes scarcely appearing to dip its feet in the water, and at other times plunging entirely under the surface with force sufficient to throw up a considerable spray *. It emerges again, however, so speedily as to render it evident that it does not attack fish swimming at any great depth. The versatility of the outer toe of the Osprey, the strength, curvature, and sharpness of its claws, and the roughness of the soles of its feet, are peculiarities of structure adapted to the better securing its slippery prey; and the shortness of its thigh feathers, unusual in the falcon tribe, is also evidently connected with its fishing habits. So firm is its hold, that it is said not unfrequently to perish by having the imprudence to fix its talons in a fish of such a size and strength as to be capable of dragging it suddenly under water. The superior strength of the * Pennant informs us that its violent descent is compared by the Italians to the fall of lead into the water ; hence they bestow on it the appellation of Auguista piwmbina (leaden Eagle). ‘* We never heard this name used, during six years’ residence in Italy, and the words are not Italian.” Sw. e 92 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Sea Eagle enables it to profit by the greater industry of the Osprey (in the same way that the Boatswain (Lestris parasiticus) obtains its food from the Gulls), by pursuing it when heavily laden with a fish until it drops it, and then snatching up the prize before it reaches the water. In revenge, the Ospreys occasionally unite to drive the Eagle away from their haunts. DESCRIPTION Of a male. Cotour.—The general colour on the dorsal aspect is liver-brown, the edges of the feathers being somewhat paler. The long and pointed feathers on the crown and hind head are white, with brown central spots. A dark-brown stripe includes the orbit and runs along the side of the neck to the shoulder, The quill feathers are brownish-black exteriorly, their inner vanes being whitish, barred with brown. The tail is dusky hair-brown, crossed by eight bars of dark liver-brown, the inner vanes of the feathers being barred alternately with dusky-brown and soiled brownish-white. The under surface of the body is white. Bill bluish-black. Cere bluish. vis orange-coloured. Feet pale-blue. Form, &c.—Bill short and strong; the cutting margin of the upper mandible is straight to its hooked tip, with the exception of a slight angular projection near the corner of the mouth and an obscure lobe about its middle. The nostrils, oblong-oval, extend, with a slight degree of obliquity, nearly the whole length of the cere. The feathers of the forehead project so as almost to conceal the cere above, and the lores are covered by dark hairs and feathers, The wings, when folded, pass the tail about aninch. The second quill feather is the longest, the third is scarcely shorter, the fourth is half an inch shorter, and the first is an inch and a half shorter than the fourth, or about half an inch longer than the fifth *. All their inner webs are narrower towards their points, but the sinuations are abrupt and distinct only in the first three : the second, third, and fourth have their outer webs also sinuated. The fail is slightly rounded. The ¢arsi, which are strong and about two inches long, are feathered on the anterior surface only to the extent of half an inch below the joint: elsewhere they are covered by small rounded, subangular, tiled scales, of which the anterior ones are rather the largest. The toes are separated to their bases, and are, with their claws, nearly equal to each other in size, and shorter than the tarsi. The fore toes are protected above by three large transverse scales adjoining to the claws, succeeded by one or two pairs of smaller scales. Four large scales cover near the whole of the hind toe. All the claws are rounded beneath, the middle one alone having a nearly obsolete groove on its inner side; they are black, tapering, sharp- pointed, and much curved. The soles and under surface of the toes are rough, like small- grained shagreen +. * In a fine adult specimen before us, just received from New Jersey, the third quill is a quarter of an inch longer than the second, the fourth one inch shorter than the third; but the first and fifth are precisely of the above propor- tions. Sw. + Each scale, in fact, is a small prickle, terminating in an acute point, perceptible to the naked eye, but very re- markable when viewed under a common lens ; they then present a miniature resemblance to the thorny processes on the backs of Skates and similarly formed fish. Sw. FALCONIDE. 23 DIMENSIONS. Inches. _ Lines, Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the longest quill feather . ~ 17 0 the tail . Q 5 5 : 24 0 » Of the tarsus . : ° . 2 0 >, of the bill from the angle of the 5, of the middle toe ¢ : ol 6 mouth : . . . 3 1 6 55 Of each of the claws in a straight 3, of the bill measured along the curve m line : . 0 . 5 1 0 ofitsridge . 5 ; A 4 2 0 >, Of ditto, following their curvature 1 7 The old female is about two inches longer than the male, has less white on the head, and some brown spots on the breast. An immature bird differed from the preceding in all the wing coverts being tipped with rusty-white, in the feathers of the top of the head having large oblong brown marks in their centres, in the breast being spotted with brown rhomboidal marks, and in there being some brown spots on the flanks. [7.] 1. Fatco perecrinus. (Linn.) Peregrine Falcon. Genus. Falco. Linn. AucTorum. Spotted Hawk. (Falco maculatus.) EDwanrps, i., pl.3. Male, from Hudson’s Bay. Black Hawk. (Falco niger.) IpeEm, i. pl.4. Female, from Hudson’s Straits. Peregrine Falcon. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 202, No. 97. Falco Peregrinus. Latu. Jnd.,i., p. 38, sp. 72. Great-footed Hawk. (Falco Peregrinus.) Orp. Wialson’s Orn., ix., p. 120, pl. 76. Female. Falco Peregrinus. SELBY. Brit. Orn.,i., p. 37, pl.15. RicHarps. App. Parry’s Sec. Voy., p. 342, No.1. Buonap. Syn., p. 27, No. 9. Apeeste-keoo. (Litile Eagle.) CREE INDIANS. This bold and active bird is a typical species of the “ True Falcons,”’ or, as they have been termed on account of their docility, the ‘“ Noble Birds of Prey.” They are characterised by a short, strong bill, which is curved from the base, and is armed on each side, near the point, with an acute tooth, that fits a notch in the lower mandible. The cere is very short, and the nostrils are small circular open- ings, with a slender round pillar in the centre. Their wings are long and pointed, the first and third quill feathers nearly equalling the second, which is the longest of all. Baron Cuvier ascribes to this form of the wings the difficulty which the Falcons experience in ascending vertically, and the consequent necessity they are under of making a very oblique ascent in calm weather, or of flying against the wind when they wish to rise in the atmosphere during a breeze. On the other 24 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. hand, their length of wing fits them for a continuous flight, and enables them, when they have attained the weather gage, to shoot down on their prey with an almost unerring aim and the rapidity of lightning. Their tarsi are of medium length and are strong; and their toes, which are comparatively long, though sufficiently robust, are strengthened by a short membrane, which connects the first phalanges of the anterior ones, and is most conspicuous between the two outer ones. ‘the claws are strong, sharp, and curved, and are well adapted to the mode in which these birds kill their prey, which is by a stroke of the foot. There are some prominent tubercles on the under surface of the toes, probably intended to act as cushions in preserving the toes in the proper degree of curvature when in the act of giving the stroke. The European Peregrine Falcon, or, as it is termed provincially in England, the ‘“* Duck-hawk,” ‘‘ Haggard,” or ‘‘ Blue-backed Falcon,” was held in high esteem as long as the art of falconry was cultivated, the female being most prized and em- ployed against larger birds ; while the male, from its being one-third smaller, was denominated a ‘‘tiercelet’’ or “ tercel,’ and flown only at partridges and small game. The Peregrine is distinguished by ornithologists from the allied species, by the length of its wings, which, when folded, are as long as the tail; by its having the middle toe as long as the tarsus; and by its having a large black mark or whisker descending from under the eye, for an inch or more, along the side of the throat. In the young Peregrine this mark is less distinct, being made up of a number of spots; but it becomes darker and more conspicuous as the bird advances in age: whereas, in the closely resembling species, the Lanner, the whisker is narrow in the young bird, and vanishes entirely in the old one. It is only the first quill feather of the Peregrine that is strongly notched, near the point of the inner web. The European Hobby (fF. sub-duteo) is an almost exact minia- ture resemblance of the Peregrine, which has not hitherto been found in America. The Peregrine being a rare bird in the wooded districts of the fur countries where the trading-posts are established, I did not procure a specimen on the late Expe- ditions ; but I have frequently seen it whilst on the march across the barren grounds. Of the two specimens figured by Edwards, one was from Hudson’s Bay, and the other was caught off the entrance of Hudson’s Straits. Captain Parry likewise brought home several male and female specimens from the coast of Melville Peninsula, some of which are preserved in the British Museum. It isa summer visitor of the northern parts of America, and frequents the coast of Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Sea, with the barren grounds, but is very seldom seen in the interior. It preys habitually on the Long-tailed Ducks (Anas glacialis), which FALCONIDA. 25 breed in great numbers in the Arctic regions, arriving in June and departing in September. Captain Parry observed it, in his second voyage, following flocks of the Snow Bunting on the coast of Greenland, near Cape Farewell. It frequents the shores of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the winter, and is celebrated there for the havoc it makes among the water-fowl. Mr. Ord states that the Ducks, which are struck by it, are lacerated from the neck to the rump : it gives the blow in passing, and returns to pick up its bird. Captain King appears to have found it at Port Famine, in the Straits of Magellan; so that it probably varies its hunting-ground with the season, from one extremity of the continent of America to the other. From the resemblance which the Peregrine has in voice and man- ners to the Ring-tailed Eagle (/ chrysacétos), the Cree Indians distinguish it by the epithet of Apeeste-kwoo, or Little Eagle. DESCRIPTION Of an old male, from Melville Peninsula, lat. 68° N. Cotour of the head and shoulders blackish-brown, without spots. The wing coverts and scapularies are also blackish-brown, but there are two or three narrower bars of hair-brown on each feather. The quill feathers are blackish, with faded tips; their inner webs are marked with about twelve transverse oval brownish-white spots; and on their under surfaces there are many alternate bars of white and slate-colour, the former being the broadest. The tail coverts are lead-grey, crossed by arrow-pointed, or heart-shaped marks of blackish-brown. The tail is barred alternately with blackish-brown and slate-colour, the subterminal band of the former being much broader than any of the others; the bars are very distinct on its under surface, where they are hair-brown and white. Under surface. The black whisker is large and well defined. The throat and upper parts of the breast are white, without spots; the rest of the under parts are white, with large longitudinal blackish-brown spots on the flanks, and small transverse ones on the belly. ‘The under tail coverts are crossed by distant narrow bars, and the thigh feathers are more closely barred. Bill greenish-blue. Cere and naked skin round the eye gamboge-yellow. Tris yellow. Legs yellow. Claws black. Form, &c.—Bill short and strong ; upper mandible much curved, and armed with an acute tooth ; lower mandible truncated at the tip, with a deep notch for the reception of the upper tooth. Nostrils round, with a central point. Space between the eye and bill covered with hair-like feathers. Eyebrow projecting; pupil large. When the wings are folded, their tips cross each other over the end of the tail. The second quill feather is the longest; the first is a quarter of an inch, and the third an inch shorter than the second ; the fourth is nearly an inch shorter than the third; and the fifth and sixth are widely apart from each other, and from the fourth. The inner web of the first is strongly sinuated ; the webs of the second and third are narrower towards their points, but present no abrupt sinuation: ‘“ Exterior edge of the tip of the secondaries scolloped.” (Wilson.) Tail very slightly rounded. The ¢arsus, an inch and three-quarters long, is feathered half an inch below the joint anteriorly ; the remainder, E 26 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. and the bases of the toes, are reticulated. Part of the first phalanges, and all the other joints of the toes, are scutellated above. The middle foe is the longest; the lateral toes are next to it in length; and the hind toe is the shortest, but has the largest claw. The middle and outer toes are connected by a short membrane. The claws are strong, sharp, and much curved. DIMENSIONS Of the male. Inches. _— Lines, Inches. _— Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end Length of the bill from the anterior margin of the tail ‘ Fi és : A 14 0 of the orbit to its tip F 6 6 1 3 » Of the bill, measured on the ridge 1 0 5, Of the tarsus 1 9 * a from the angle of the 5, of the middle toe 2 2 mouth é 3 . 4 é 1 13 5, of the middle claw 0 9 An old female, from the same locality, has the dorsal aspect more dull, and a buff-coloured breast, with some central dark streaks on the feathers. It is larger than the male. Dimensions Of the female. Length (total). : . . ss 0 Length of the middle toe ‘ : 5 ® 2 » Of the tarsus . . é : 2 4 5 ofthe middle claw . : : 0 7 An immature bird, also from the same locality, has the feathers on the dorsal aspect nar- rowly bordered with a dull rust-colour, which, on the head, prevails over the blackish-brown. The ¢ail is of a deep hair-brown, and is tipped with white, the outer webs being marked with seven round spots, and the inner ones with as many bars of a pale reddish-brown colour: there are no spots on the exterior web of the outer feather. The inner coverts of the wings, and under surface of the tail, are transversely barred with buff-colour, The whole ventral aspect is white, with a large oblong liver-brown mark in the centre of each feather. There are fewer spots on the throat, and more on the flanks, than elsewhere; but they are nearly of equal size on these parts and on the belly and thighs. Dimensions OF the young bird. Length (total) ; é : ; - 17 6 Length of the middle toe : : 5 2 » Of the tarsus . . - a 1 9 —) ow 5, of the middle claw FALCONIDA. 27 [8.] 2. Fatco Isuanpicus. (Latham.) The Jerfalcon. Genus. Falco. Linn. AuctTorum. Ash-coloured Buzzard. (Buteo cinereus.) Epwanrps, pl. 53. Young, from Hudson’s Bay. Falco fuscus. Fapricitus. Faun. Grenl., p. 56. Young. Falco sacer. Forster. Phil. Trans., 1xii., p. 383 and 423. Young, from Hudson’s Bay. Collared Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 222, sp. G. Mature. Gyrfalcon. IpEM, ii, p. 221, sp.F. Immature. Brit. Zool., t. xix. Iceland Falcon. Ipem. Aret. Zool., ii., p.216, sp. D. Immature. Sacre Falcon. IpEM, ii., p. 202, sp. 96. Immature. Dusky Falcon. IprEm, ii., p. 220. E. Immature. Falco Islandicus. Latu. Jnd., p. 32, sp. 39. Mature. Falco rusticolus. IpDEM, p. 28, sp. 60. Mature. Falco Gyrfalco. InEM, p. 32, sp. 68. Immature. Falco sacer. IpEM, p. 34, sp. 75. Immature. Falco lagopus 6. IpxEmM, p. 19, sp. 326. Yearling. Falco obscurus. IpEM, p.44, sp. 105. Immature. Falco Islandicus. TEMMINCK,i., p.17. Sapine, Lin. Tr., xil., p. 528. Hierofalco candicans. CuviEr, Reg. An., i., p. 323. Falco Islandicus. SELBY. Brit. Orn., i., p. 35, pl. 14. Peepooneeshew, (Winter bird.) CrEE INDIANS. This very handsome Falcon differs from the Peregrine, in having a longer tail, shorter and stronger tarsi and toes, and somewhat less pointed wings ; but it is in all respects a true Falcon, and one of the most courageous, though Baron Cuvier has considered it as the typical species of his sub-genus Hierofalco. The want of a tooth on the upper mandible, which he gives as the principal character of the sub-genus, seems to be merely an occasional variety ; for many specimens, both European and North American, are preserved in the Hudson’s Bay, British, and other Museums in London, which have as large and acute a tooth as the Pere- grine, although it is generally a little nearer the point of the bill than in the latter bird. Indeed, the bill of the Jerfalcon differs from that of the Peregrine, not in the want of a tooth, but in the presence of a perceptible obtuse lobe near the middle of the mandible ; whilst in the Peregrine there is only a very slight indication of such alobe. ‘There is a solitary specimen of a Jerfalcon in the British Museum, whose bill is destitute of a tooth, agreeing perfectly with Buffon’s figure and Cuvier’s description ; but, in all other respects, that specimen has the same form and stature as those whose bills are toothed. The Jerfalcon is a constant resident in the Hudson’s Bay territories, where it is known by the name of the “ Speckled Partridge Hawk,” or by that of the “Winterer.” It is not enumerated by Wilson or Buonaparte amongst the birds of the United States, and I am unable to state the exact southern limit of its E 2 28 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. range, though I have ascertained that it is occasionally seen as far south as lati- tude 52°. It is found northward to the coast of the Arctic Sea, and probably in the most northern Georgian Islands; it is a well-known inhabitant of Iceland, and was observed by Captain Sabine on the west coast of Greenland, as high as latitude 74°. It is likewise an inhabitant of the north of Europe. We saw it often during our journeys over the “ Barren Grounds,” where its habitual prey is the Ptarmigan, but where it also destroys Plover, Ducks, and Geese. In the middle of June, 1821, a pair of these birds attacked me as I was climbing in the vicinity of their nest, which was built on a lofty precipice on the borders of Point Lake, in latitude 654°. They flew in circles, uttering loud and harsh screams, and alternately stooping with such velocity, that their motion through the air produced a loud rushing noise; they struck their claws within an inch or two of my head. I endeavoured, by keeping the barrel of my gun close to my cheek, and suddenly elevating its muzzle when they were in the act of striking, to ascertain whether they had the power of instantaneously changing the direction of their rapid course, and found that they invariably rose above the obstacle with the quickness of thought, showing equal acuteness of vision and power of motion. Although their flight was much more rapid, they bore consi- derable resemblance to the Snowy Owl. At the period at which I saw them, the ground was still partially clothed with snow, and the lakes covered with ice; but the Jerfalcon, like the Strix nyctea of the same districts, is well calculated, from the whiteness of its plumage, for traversing a snowy waste, without alarming the birds on which it preys. As the Ptarmigan partially migrate southwards in the winter, some of the Jerfalcons follow them; but, from the young birds being much more common, about latitude 57°, than the mature ones, the latter probably keep nearer to their breeding-places in the more northern, rocky, barren ground districts all the year. When the Jerfalcon pounces down upon a flock of Ptarmigan, the latter endeavour to save themselves by diving instantly into the loose snow, and making their way beneath it to a considerable distance. DESCRIPTION Of a mature bird (supposed to be a male) from Hudson’s Bay, in Mr. Leadbeater’s collection. Cotour.—White, with some clove-brown spots on the dorsal aspect. The head is entirely white, and the neck is nearly so, there being only a few central brown marks on the feathers of the nape. On the back the clove-brown forms a pyriform blotch on each feather, and on the rump it is confined to a narrow streak along the shaft. The spots are smaller on the lesser wing-coverts ; and on the greater coverts, secondaries, and scapularies, the brown FALCONIDA. 29 is disposed in bars, which do not reach the margins of the feathers. The primaries are white, their shafts, and one or two inches of their ends only, being blackish-brown ; they are narrowly edged at the tips with white. The tail feathers and their coverts are entirely white. The whole under surface of the bird is pure white, except the ends of the quill feathers, which are hair-brown. The Jill is pale greenish-gray, becoming darker at the tip. Cere and lores wax-yellow. Legs yellow. Form, &c.—Bill short, strong, and much curved. The upper mandible has a rather narrow ridge; its cutting margin is undulated, having an acute tooth near its point, and an obtuse lobe posterior to it. The under mandible is truncated at the tip, and deeply notched on its cutting margin, for the reception of the upper tooth. The nostrils are round, with a central pillar. The cere and lores are mostly covered with small white hairs and feathers, arranged in a radiated manner. The wings are shorter than the tail; the second quill feather is the longest; the third is a quarter of an inch, and the first half an inch shorter than the second ; the fourth is half an inch shorter than the first, and more than an inch shorter than the second; the remainder diminish in succession an inch each. The first and second have their inner webs sinuated, and the outer webs of the second and third are also sinuated. The éail is nearly square. The tips of the thigh feathers reach to the roots of the toes. The ¢arsus, rather more than two inches and a quarter long, is feathered for an inch and three quarters ; its lower part being reticulated with crowded scales. The toes have their first phalanges reticulated, and the others protected above by large transverse scales. There is a short web between the outer and middle toes. The hind toe is shorter than the others, and is armed with the longest nail; the inner toe and nail are next in size: the outer toe is rather longer and more slender than the inner one, and has the smallest nail of all; the middle toe is half an inch longer than these; its nail being a little bigger than the outer one. All the nails are strong, sharp, much curved, and grooved beneath. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Inches, Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill from the angle of the mouth 1 6 the tail 2 C . 24 0 >, Of the tarsus é 9 Sih 4 55 of the tail F c 5) HO 0 5, of the middle toe BG, a4 0 5 ofthe longest quill feather . . 16 0 » of the middle claw 3 5 @ 9 >> of the bill, measured along its ridge . 1 3 The young Jerfalcons show little white on their plumage, being mostly of a dull brown colour above. As they grow older, the white margins encroach on the brown, which becomes merely a central blotch, indented on each side by the white ; while in aged birds the plumage is mostly pure white, varied only by a few nar- row transverse brown bars on the upper parts. Specimens are occasionally procured totally white ; but whether they ought to be considered as birds in the most perfect state of plumage, or merely as varieties, I have not been able to ascertain. 30 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. DESCRIPTION Of an immature bird from Hudson’s Bay, now in the British Museum. Coxour of the head white, with longitudinal brown streaks. The feathers on the dorsal aspect of the body have hair-brown centres, with white borders, and also an oval spot on each web indented into the brown. The tail feathers have brown shafts; in the two outer feathers the brewn encroaches on the webs, and in the two middle ones there are also six or seven irregular brown blotches. The breast and belly have elliptical brown marks in the centres of the feathers. In other respects, and in the acute tooth on the upper mandible, the spe- cimen resembles the mature one above described. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length (total) 4 5 4 3°22 6 Length of the largest quill feather . 4 0 >, Of the tail ° . A gh te 0 5, of the tarsus . . . 2 4 The Falco sacer of Forster, sent from Hudson’s Bay, and described in the Philosophical Transactions, is a sti] younger bird than the preceding, probably a yearling. Its upper plumage was dark brown, with pale reddish-brown margins and spots on the webs, which did not reach the shafts. The quill feathers were brownish-black, with white tips and edges, round rust-coloured spots on the outer webs, and transverse bars of the same colour on the inner webs. The tail was dark brown, with a white tip, and crossed by about The head and whole under surface were white, with longitudinal brown twelve white bands. Its length was 22 inches; its extent 36 inches, marks. Cere and feet bluish. Iris yellow. and its weight 23 Ibs. The description of Edwards’s Ash-colowred Buzzard corresponds nearly with Forster’s, but the colouring of his figure is indifferent.—R. The remarkable variation in the form of the bill, before alluded to, deserves attention ; since naturalists have given no elucidation of a fact so curious. It has, indeed, been surmised, that two species may possibly exist in our museums under this name; but on this point we can offer no opinion. Several instances, how- ever, might be named, where the variation in the bills of individuals (unquestion- ably of the same species) is fully as great as in the present instance. ‘This fact may be accounted for in two ways; first, from the effect of age, the young not having the full development of that structure which is typical of the adult; thus, in the youngest specimen of the American Harrier, subsequently described, the cutting margin of the upper mandible is straight, while in the older specimens this margin is strongly sinuated. Secondly, by that wonderful regularity in the progres- sion of natural affinities, which is not only apparent in species, but even in the mode of variation of those species. Sometimes these resemblances indicate analogies, Ad & 2A FALCO SPARVERIUS. L_—__——_1 London Lrintea fur John Morey Bookseller wo the Admivally, hawwoay 124829. FALCONIDA. 51 sometimes affinities ; but as the fact has hitherto not been clearly observed, so the principle of this variation remains to be discovered. It is generally seen in aberrant groups ; although not unfrequently, as in this instance, in such as are strictly typical. To cite another instance, we may remark, that in the superb collection of Indian birds at the Royal Museum of Paris, are several skins of Timalia pileata, Horsf., from Sumatra and Java; of which some have the bill perfectly entire, some slightly, and others distinctly notched ; all, apparently, being old birds, full plumaged, and not differing in the slightest degree in other respects. It will subsequently be seen that this species stands in a group where the bill is ether notched or entire *.—Sw. [9] 3. Fatco sparverius. (Linn.) Little Rusty-crowned Faicon. Genus. Falco. Linn. AuCTORUM. Little Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii. p. 211, No. 110. Falco sparverius. Latu. Jnd., i., p. 42, sp. 99. American Sparrow-hawk. (F. sparverius.) Watson, ii., p. 117, pl. 16) f.1. Female; and iv., p. 57, pl. 32, f. 2. Male. Falco sparverius. Buonap. Syn., p. 27, No. 10. Wicors. Zool. Journ., No. xi., pp. 425, 435. Peepeekeeshees. CREE INDIANS. Puate xxiv. Mate. Prince Charles Buonaparte has separated the small American Falcons from the larger kinds, characterising the group by wings shorter than the tail, and scu- tellated tarsi. The latter character is only partially correct ; for, in F. sparverlus, there are but three s/ield-formed transverse scales on the tarsus adjoining to the toes, the rest of it being covered anteriorly by two rows of scales in alternate order, forming a near approach to reticulation. In F. esalon the tarsus is still more reti- culated, but it also is furnished with three shield-formed scales on its lower extre- mity. The group, however, seems to be a natural one, the birds composing it differing somewhat in their manners from the larger Falcons, and having analogies in their habits with the Shrikes. The three small American Falcons that came under our notice agree in having long tails, and in the first quill feather being a little shorter than the fourth, or, at most, only equal to it,—both being consider- ably shorter than the second, which, again, scarcely exceeds the third one. The rapidity with which the quill feathers decrease in length after the fourth, still ren- ders the wings pointed, yet not so much so as in the two larger species which we * The whole of the groups in this family require a thorough revision, not in the library, but in the museum; and until this is done, it is impossible to make full use of the distinction pointed out by Baron Cuvier, or to understand its bearings.—Sw. 32 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. have described. The F. sparverius, though a smaller bird, may be considered as representing the F. tinnunculus of Kurope in form. We met with no small Falcons, in the northern parts of America, having long wings, like the Hobby and some other European species. The Falco sparverius is a common bird in America, and its manners are well known. Indeed, few Falcons are more likely to attract attention, for it is not only a bold and familiar species, but both male and female are very beautiful birds. Wilson informs us that it is a constant resident in almost every part of the United States, particularly north of Maryland. It breeds in considerable numbers on the banks of the Saskatchewan, in the neighbourhood of Carlton House, arriving there in the month of April, laying its eggs about the middle of May, and retiring southward on the approach of winter. I am unable to say how far it extends its migrations ; but I do not believe it to be a very northern species, as it was not observed, on the route of the Expeditions, beyond the fifty-fourth degree of latitude. It also frequents the warmer parts of America, having been perceived in Cuba by Mr. W. M‘Leay ; and it is likewise an inhabitant of South America *, Captain King having found it at Port Famine in the Straits of Magellant. Wilson has de- scribed its manners with his wonted accuracy, and I cannot do greater justice to the reader than by transcribing his remarks. ‘Tt flies rather irregularly, occasionally suspending itself in the air, hovering over a particular spot for a minute or two, and then shooting off in another direc- tion. It perches on the top of a dead tree, or pole, in the middle of a field or meadow, and, as it alights, shuts its long wings so suddenly, that they seem instantly to disappear. It sits here in an almost perpendicular position, sometimes for an hour at a time, frequently jerking its tail, and reconnoitring the ground below in every direction, for mice, lizards, &c. It approaches the farm-house, particularly in the morning, skulking about the farm-yard, for mice or young chickens, and frequently plunges into a thicket after small birds, as if by random ; but always with a particular, and generally a fatal, aim.” In the vicinity of Carlton House, where the plains are beautifully ornamented by numerous small clamps of aspens, that give a rich picturesque effect to the land- scape, which I have never seen equalled even in an English park, this small Falcon was frequently discovered perched on the most lofty tree of a clump, sitting with his eye apparently closed, but, nevertheless, sufficiently awake to what was passing around it, as it would occasionally evince by suddenly pouncing upon any small * The specimens we procured during our researches in Brazil are entirely destitute of the rufous spot on the crown ; but those from Mexico perfectly agree with the skins brought home by Dr. Richardson—Sw. + Vide Zool. Jour., No. xi., pp. 425, 435. FALCONIDA. 33 bird that happened to come within its reach. It is the least shy of any of the Ame- rican hawks, and when on its perch will suffer the fowler to advance to the foot of the tree, provided he has the precaution to make a slow and devious approach. He is not, however, unnoticed; for the bird shows, by the motion of its head, that it is carefully watching his manceuvres; yet, unless he walks directly to- wards it, itis not readily alarmed. When at rest, its wings are closely applied to the sides, with their tips lying over the tail about one-third from its end, and the tail itself, being closely shut up, looks long and narrow. If its suspicions be excited, it raises and depresses its head quickly two or three times, and spreads its tail, but does not open its wings until the instant it takes flight. The individuals shot at Carlton had mice or small birds in their stomachs. Wilson enumerates, also, snakes, lizards, and grasshoppers, as part of its food. It is said to make its nest in a hollow tree, and to lay four or five eggs, which are of a light brownish-yellow colour, spotted with a darker tint *. DESCRIPTION Of a male, in full plumage, killed in the vicinity of Carlton House, lat. 53°, May, 1827. Cotour.—The crown of the head is occupied by a circular patch of deep orange-brown, which is enclosed by a coronet of clear blackish-grey. Beneath this there are seven conspi- cuous black marks ; one situated on the nape of the neck, and blending with the grey coronet, and three on each side of the head below the level of the eye: the two anterior of these marks form together almost two-thirds of a circle, which includes the white cheek; and the third and smaller one, situated farther back, is surrounded by a pale-brown tint. There is a narrow white line between the forehead and the base of the bill, and another over the eye. The dorsal aspect of the neck, the back, and the scapularies, are of a clear-brown colour, considerably paler than the crown of the head; and on the tips of the scapularies and between the shoulders there are a few oval spots and transverse bars of black. The rump and tail coverts are of a brighter and purer orange-brown than the crown of the head, and, like the neck, are unspotted. The ¢ail feathers are precisely of the same colour with their coverts ; but a subterminal band of black crosses both webs, and they are narrowly tipped with white: the exterior feather has a white outer web, with an undulated black line along its shaft; and there is a narrower interrupted black bar behind the subterminal one on the other fea- thers. The lesser wing coverts and the secondary coverts are pure bluish-grey, regularly marked with round spots about the size of peas. The bastard wing and the primary coverts are marked alternately with black and bluish-grey. The quill feathers are brownish-black, with black shafts, and on their inner webs there are from five to eight semi-oval white marks, regu- larly alternating with narrower processes of the black. A square black patch is formed by the bases of the outer webs of the secondaries being of that hue: their tips are bluish-grey * WILSON, ii. p. 118. 34 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. clouded with black, and their inner webs are barred with white like the primaries. The ter- tiaries are bluish-grey, with some black. Under surface. The throat, posterior part of the belly, under tail coverts, and thigh feathers, are pure white, without spots. The breast has a brown tinge. The flanks and sides of the breast are marked prettily with roundish and heart- shaped black spots. The linings of the wings and under surface of the quill feathers are white, the former spotted with black and the latter barred with lead-grey. The tail is pale-buff colour beneath, with dark marks corresponding to those on the upper surface. Bill bluish- grey, with a blackish tip; lower mandible horn-coloured at the base. Cere yellow. Iris dark-brown. Legs yellow. Claws black. Form, &c.—The bill is short, strong, convex on its sides, much curved, and very acute. Just anterior to the nostrils there is a slight undulation of the cutting margin of the upper mandible ; and half way between that and the tip there is an acute tooth, which fits into a notch in the lower mandible: the latter is strong and truncated at the tip. The cere is very short, and the nostrils are circular, with a central column. The wings are much pointed, the primaries greatly exceeding the secondaries in length. In some specimens the second, in others the third, quill feather is the longest; the first is three-quarters of an inch shorter than these, and in most specimens is perceptibly shorter than the fourth ; the remaining feathers are each in succession half an inch shorter. The second and third have their outer webs sinuated ; and the inner webs of the first and second are also sinuated. All these sinuations are shallow and oblique, though that on the inner web of the second feather is less so than the others. The tail is moderately rounded, the outer feathers being half an inch shorter than the central ones. The tarsus is pretty strong, considering the size of the bird. It is covered with short white feathers, on its anterior surface only, for nearly half an inch below the joint ; the remainder of it is protected anteriorly by a double row of scales larger than those behind, and by a single row of three large transverse oval ones immediately adjoining the articulation of the middle toe. The middle toe is about two-thirds of the length of the tarsus ; the others are about a quarter of an inch shorter than the middle one. Under each joint there is a con- spicuous round cushion, covered with warty integument, like the rest of the under surface of the foot. The claws are much curved, and are grooved underneath with acute edges. Dimensions Of the male. Inches. Lines. Inches, _ Lines, Length from the tip of the bill to the end Length of the bill from the angle ofthemouth 0 83 of the tail ° , ° . - il 6 >» oOfthetarsus . - . ° 1 5 55 of the tail : A : : 5 6 5, Of the middle toe . : - O ll », Of the longest quill feathers . - 6 6 » Ofitsclaw . : C 0 4 DESCRIPTION Of a mature female, killed May, 1827, at Carlton House. Cotour of the head nearly the same as in the male, the seven black marks being equally conspicuous ; the rust-coloured mark on the crown, however, and its surrounding coronet, are varied by the shafts of the feathers being blackish. The whole dorsal aspect is reddish- brown, duller than the corresponding parts of the male, and regularly crossed by brownish- FALCONID. 35 black bars, several on each feather. There are twelve black bars on the middle tail feathers, and nine on the outer ones ; and the outer webs of the latter are nearly white. The flag feathers are coloured externally, as in the male ; but the white marks on their inner webs are deeply tinged with brown. The throat, posterior part of the belly, and under tail coverts, are white, as in the male; the breast, fore part of the belly, and the flanks, are soiled-white, marked longitudinally with oblong yellowish-brown spots. On the linings of the wings the yellowish-brown is the ground colour, and is spotted with white. The under surfaces of the quill and tail feathers are slightly tinged with buff-colour, and are crossed by brownish- grey bars. The total length of the specimen is one foot ; that of the tarsus one inch and a half: the other dimensions correspond with those of the male, the female of this species scarcely exceeding the other sex in size. A young male had nearly the plumage of the female, differing only in the black bars on the wings being more distinct, those on the tail narrower, and in the upper tail coverts being brownish-red, without spots. In a young female the tips of the flag feathers were margined with white and the whole abdomen was marked with yellowish-brown spots. [10. ] 4, Fatco cotumsarius. (Linn.) Pigeon-Hawk. Genus. Falco. Linn. AucTORUM. Falco columbarius. Forster. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 382, No. 1. Pigeon-Hawk. PrEnn. Aret. Zool., ii., p. 222, No. 111. Falco columbarius. Latru. JInd., i., p. 44, sp. 106. Pigeon-Hawk. (F. columbarius.) Wutson, ii. p. 107, pl. 15, f. 3. Male. Falco columbarius. Bonap. Syn., p. 38, No. 11. Pepecooseesh. CREE INDIANS. This fierce little Falcon makes it appearance on the coast of Hudson’s Bay in May, and, having reared its young, retires to a warmer climate in September. It is not uncommon about York Factory, in latitude 57°, and probably wanders much farther north. Early in the spring of 1825, I observed a small Hawk on the north shore of Great Bear Lake, in latitude 66°, which, if not of this species, belongs to a still smaller one, that is hitherto undescribed as a North American bird. It had taken possession of a tree, and was so unwilling to go away, that, when I threw stones at it, it merely made two or three circles round my head, with much clamour, and returned to its former perch. The want of a gun at the time prevented me from procuring the specimen. F 2 36 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Wilson observes, that the Pigeon-Hawk is generally migratory in the northern and middle parts of the United States, arriving in Pennsylvania early in the spring, extending its migrations to Hudson’s Bay, and, after building and rearing its young, retiring to the south early in November. Mr. Hutchins, in his Notes on the Hudson’s Bay Birds, informs us, that this species “ makes its nest on the rocks and in hollow trees, of sticks and grass, lined with feathers, laying from two to four white eggs, thinly marked with red spots. The young fly in August. It preys on small birds, which it seizes with dexterity, screaming loudly at the onset ; and when it is disturbed, it will fly round and round, making a continued noise.” DESCRIPTION Of an individual killed at York Factory on the 4th September, 1822, supposed to be a male. Cotour of the head brownish-black, with reddish-brown margins to the feathers. The whole dorsal aspect is deep broccoli-brown, slightly varied by dark chestnut-brown edgings to the feathers, which are scarcely noticed at first sight, and are most perceptible on the lesser wing coverts. The tail coverts have paler margins, approaching to wood-brown. The tail is black, crossed by four yellowish-grey bars, tinged here and there with brown, and tipped with the same. The inner webs of the bastard wing and quill feathers are marked by five or six large oval spots of yellowish-grey, more or less tinged with brown. Under surface. The cheeks, a streak above the eyes, the throat, breast, belly, and thighs, have a dull ochre- yellow, or yellowish-brown colour, spotted and streaked with brownish-black. The latter colour forms a large oval mark in the centre of each feather on the breast; but on the belly and thighs it is confined to a streak along the mid-rib. The linings of the wings are ochre- yellow, spotted with black ; the under surfaces of the quill and tail feathers are deep clove- brown, crossed by rows of oblong, wine-yellow spots. Bill yellowish-grey at the base, bluish- black at the tip. Cere wax-yellow: inside of the mouth bluish; margins of the eyelids yellow. Legs yellow. Form, &c.—Bill shaped like that of the preceding species. The tips of the folded wings reach within an inch of the end of the tail, the scapularies are short, and the secondaries and tertiaries reach to the tips of the tail coverts. The third quill feather is the longest, the second is almost as long, and the others in succession are considerably shorter. The tarsi are fea- thered anteriorly for a short way below the joint. The toes are long, with rounded cushions beneath the joints, and sharp curved nails. When the leg is stretched out, the tip of the middle claw reaches to the point of the folded wing. Dimensions. Inches. Lines, Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail oA 0 > Of thetail . ° ° . ° ’ 5 6 Extent between the tips of the wings. A , + 22 0 The specimen from which the above description was taken was not brought home, having been accidentally destroyed. The description accords nearly with Pennant’s, quoted above. “es Pr 1 ar Yi : KALCO MSALO N, jan. a London Lrted (for Joli Murray Bookseller tothe A anuradty, Janay 129609 FALCONIDA. 37 [11.] 5. Fatco #saton. (Temminck.) The Merlin. Genus. Falco. Linn. Avuctorum. Dubious Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 213, No. 112? Falco esalon. TEMM.,i. p.27. SELBy. Brit. Orn., i., p. 45, pl. 18. Puate xxv. FEemate. This bird is known to the native inhabitants of the fur-countries by the same name with the two preceding ones; and we suspect that its similarity, in certain states of plumage, to the Pigeon-Hawk, has caused them to be confounded even by systematic writers. Hence we have been unable to quote with confidence any figures or descriptions of American specimens ; and the same cause renders it difficult to ascertain the extent of its migrations on that continent. A single pair were seen in the neighbourhood of Carlton House, in May, 1827, and the female was shot. In the oviduct there were several full-sized white eggs, clouded at one end with a few bronze-coloured spots. Another specimen, probably also a female, was killed at the Sault St. Marie, between Lakes Huron and Superior, but it could not be preserved. It is a larger bird, and has longer toes, than the Falco spar- vertus.—R. The specimen killed at Carlton House is, beyond doubt, an old female Merlin, just beginning to have its new feathers, several of which, darker and more cine- reous, are to be seen on the sides near the hind part of the neck.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of an old female, killed on the plains of the Saskatchewan, 14th May, 1827, while flying in company with the male. Coxovr of the dorsal aspect dull, dusky yellowish-brown, varied by spots and short trans- verse bars of dull wood-brown. On the crown of the head the feathers have a central streak of blackish-brown, gradually fading into liver-brown towards the margins, which are rust- coloured, but are much worn off. On the upper part of the neck the plumage is lighter, and the white bases of the feathers appear. On the back, and on the wing and tail coverts, the wood-brown forms one or two pairs of roundish, ill-defined spots on each feather: on the scapularies it exists in the form of transverse bars, interrupted at the shafts. The quill feathers have from five to seven pairs of wood-brown spots, those on the outer webs being small, irre- gular, and situated close to the shafts. The ground colour of the fail is paler and duller than that of the back, except at its end, where it approaches to liver-brown. It is narrowly tipped 38 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. with soiled-white, and is crossed by five narrow bars of the same colour, of which the sub- terminal one is the most perfect. Under surface. ‘The throat is white. The cheeks, sides of the neck, and breast, are brownish-white, streaked longitudinally with dark liver-brown. The belly and thighs are white, with yellowish-brown streaks on the shafts. The flanks and wing linings are yellowish-brown, with oval white marks, The quill feathers are barred alter- nately on the inside with broccoli-brown and wine-yellow. The under tail coverts are white, and the under surface of the tail is slate-coloured, crossed by white bars. Bill bluish-black. Claws black. é Form.—Shape of the bill much like that of F. sparverius. The cutting margin of the upper mandible has a strong tooth near its tip, and is somewhat sinuated farther back. Lores covered with white hair-like feathers, disposed in a stelliform manner. ‘The tips of the folded wings reach within two inches of the end of the tail. The scapularies are short. The ter- tiaries, or the posterior secondaries, are longer than the six preceding ones, and are equal to the seventh or eighth primary. The wings have a pointed form: the second and third quill feathers are the longest; the first is about half an inch shorter than these, and is scarcely equal to the fourth; the succeeding ones, to the eleventh, are successively shorter by half an inch each. The outer webs of the second and third are rather suddenly narrowed near their tips, and the inner webs of the first and second are more decidedly sinuated. The tail is‘square. The outside thigh feathers reach only half way down the tarsus. The tarsus is covered anteriorly with feathers for nearly half an inch below the joint: it is protected at its base by four transverse shield-shaped scales, and is reticulated elsewhere. The toes are long and slender, particularly the middle one, and there is a roundish pad under each joint. The hind toe is the shortest, but has the longest claw ; the inner fore toe comes next to it in length and in the size of its claw. The bases of the middle and outer toes are connected by a short web. Dimensions Of the female. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill along its ridge 9 the tail . 2 3 : ala 0 >> Of the tarsus 0 1 5 5, of the tail c : . 6 0 55 of the middle toe 1 5 5, of the longest quill feather c 7 6 >, of its claw 0 6 5, of the bill, from the angle of the >, Of the hind toe 0 6 mouth . . - 3 ° 0 9 55 of its claw 0 64 I have had no opportunity of taking a description of an American male specimen. de! a ie Y ar 7 fh f is oe iy ae tet io 4 ds) al } ay i”, 1) 9S al Nth ATRICAPILULUS » IRs AS T wavy 424849. aM sellorlo the Admiralty, J Ui London. frinted jr John Murrey, Liao FALCONIDA., 39 [12.] 1. AccipireR (AsTuR) PALUMBARIUS. The Goshawh. Genus. Accipiter. ANTI@. Sub-genus, Astur. BECHSTEIN. Goshawk. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 204, No. 99. Young male. Gentil Falcon. IpEM, ii., p. 203, No. 98? American female. Falco palumbarius. LatH. IJnd.,i., p.29, sp.65. Male. Falco gentilis. IpEM, i., p. 29, sp. 66?* Female or young. Ash-coloured or Black-capped Hawk. (/’. atricapillus.) Wauutson, vi., p. 80, pl. 52, f. 3. Falco palumbarius. SaBine. Frankl. Journ. p.670. Bonar. Syn., p. 28, No. 12. Prats xxvi. Mate. The Hawks are allied to the true Falcons by their habits of taking their prey on the wing, feeding on warm-blooded animals, and rejecting carrion ; but differ from them in attacking their prey sideways, or obliquely, and near the earth, instead of soaring aloft and pouncing down upon it. They are characterized by the shortness of their wings, which reach no further than two-thirds down the tail. Their bills are curved from the base, but, being less convex on the sides, are not so strong nor so compact as those of the true Falcons ; and they have a larger cere, and nostrils of a different form. They likewise want the notch on the lower mandible, and the corresponding tooth on the upper one; having, in place of the latter, an obtuse lobe, or festoon of the margin, situated farther back than the tooth usually is. The Goshawk of the Old World was held in great esteem while falconry con- tinued to be cultivated, and was flown at crows, geese, pheasants, and partridges. Colonel Thornton thus describes its mode of attack :—‘‘ The Goshawk flies at the bolt, the female being excellent for hares, rabbits, herons, and wild ducks, and the tercel for game. It takes its prey near the ground (for it cannot mount), and has great speed for a short distance. If its game take refuge, there it waits patiently on a tree or a stone, until the game, pressed by hunger, is induced to move ; and as the Hawk is capable of greater abstinence, it generally succeeds in taking it.” ‘ I flew a Goshawk,” says the Colonel, ‘‘ at a Pheasant, which got into cover, and we lost the Hawk; at ten next morning the falconer found her, and just as he had lifted her, the Pheasant ran, and rose +.” * The Prince of Musignano observes, that the Falco gentilis of Linneus, though by most authors considered to be the young of the Goshawk, corresponds also with his F'. Cooperii in description, that bird having similar plumage to the young Goshawk. + Montacu, Orn. Dict., Suppl., Art. Hawk-Gos., 40 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. The American Goshawk was considered by Pennant and Latham to be of the same species with the European one; the former author merely remarking, that the American individuals that he had seen were of an unusually large size. Wilson, who had never seen an Kuropean Goshawk, described an old male that was shot near Philadelphia under the name of the ‘“ Black-cap Hawk, or Falco atricapillus ;” observing, however, that his specimen corresponded so nearly with Bewick’s description and figure of the Goshawk, that he had little doubt of their being identical. The Prince of Musignano has reunited the Black-cap Hawk with the Falco palumbarius; but Baron Cuvier, while he considers the latter as a typical specimen of his sub-genus Les autowrs, refers the American bird to another sub-genus, Hierofalco. There is, indeed, much resemblance between the females and young of the Goshawk and Jerfalcon; and those who overlook the dif- ferences in the scales of their tarsi and the relative lengths of their quill feathers, might easily confound the one with the other. That this has been done occasion- ally is very likely ; and Cuvier may possibly be right in referring the F. gyrfalco of Gmelin to the F. palumbarius, although we have followed the majority of sys- tematic writers in considering it to be the young of the F’. islandicus.—R. We associate this bird with the sub-genus or section of Astur- for although its approximation to the Buteo borealis is very decided, we shall not disturb the present situations of these two birds, remote as they now are in our systems, until the whole family undergoes a more accurate investigation. The bill, possessing all the characters seen in B. borealis, is yet somewhat shorter, but the upper mandible is less sinuated. These two species further agree in the length and general construction of their feet, excepting that in the Accipiter palumbarius the anterior scales partake of the smooth character more peculiar to the typical Hawks. The toes, also, are rather longer, the claws somewhat more curved, and the middle and outer toes are proportionably smaller than in B. borealis. It may further be remarked, that the anterior transverse scales of the toes are more numerous in this bird. The hind and inner claws are nearly of the same size, and very strong. The wings short, and not adapted for strong flight.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of an old male (No. 1), shot in company with the female at the nest, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, May 8, 1827. Cotour.—The upper aspect of the head, the nape of the neck, cheeks, and sides of the throat, are black, with the white bases of the feathers partially appearing. A white stripe, with black shafts and mottlings, commences at the base of the bill, and, passing over the orbit, widens as it proceeds backwards to the side of the neck. The dorsal aspect of the neck, the back, the tail coverts, lesser wing coverts, and greater part of the secondaries, are bluish- FALCONIDA. Al grey, without markings, the margins of the feathers being in some places merely a shade darker. The inner webs of the secondaries are yellowish-grey, with a little white mottling towards their bases. The primaries and their coverts have an umber-brown tinge, which, on the outer webs, yields a greyish reflexion, but towards the ends of the inner webs is nearly pure: a few bars are faintly indicated by lighter shadings, and there are some white markings towards their bases. The fail is clove-brown, deepening gradually towards its tip into blackish-brown, with two very obscure bars of the latter colour farther back; it is edged at the tip with soiled- white, and the inner webs are of a paler brown. The whole ventral aspect (including the thigh feathers and wing linings) has nearly an uniform appearance, being closely covered with short zig-zag lines of blackish-grey on a white ground. The long lateral under-tail coverts are white, without markings ; but there are some greyish lines on the shorter central ones. The under surfaces of the quill feathers are clouded and mottled with brownish-white ; and the tail beneath is slate-coloured, with brown shadings. Form, &c.—Bill rather strong, curved from the base, but more compressed than the bills of the true Falcons, which proceeds from the greater flatness of its sides, for the ridge is rather obtusely rounded. Cutting margin of the upper mandible furnished with an obtuse lobe, the centre of which is under the anterior margin of the nostrils. Under mandible strong, and much rounded at the end. Cere moderately long, extending, on the ridge, to about one- fourth the length of the bill. Nostrils large, broadly oval, or nearly round, opening rather obliquely forwards. ores clothed with short white feathers, on which black hairs are dis- posed in a stelliform manner, their ends curving upwards over the nostrils. The plumage on the dorsal aspect of the neck and between the shoulders is particularly full and close. The tips of the folded wings fall five or six inches short of the end of the tail, scarcely passing the longest tail coverts, The fourth quill feather is the longest; the fifth is two lines, the third a quarter of an inch, and the sixth an inch shorter ; the second is intermediate between the sixth and seventh, which are an inch apart; and the first and eighth are about equal, and half an inch shorter than the seventh, or four inches shorter than the fourth. The outer webs of the second to the sixth inclusive, and the inner webs of the first to the fifth, are sinuated. The tail is rounded, the exterior feathers being three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle ones. The thigh feathers are long. The tarsi are robust, clothed with mottled-grey feathers nearly half way down, and their lower portion protected by eleven transverse shield- shaped scales both anteriorly and posteriorly, all the scales being thin and smooth, but parti- cularly the posterior ones, which causes them to appear as if united into one large scale. The toes are moderately strong, the middle one being more than half an inch longer than the others, which are nearly equal among themselves: there is a short web between the middle and outer ones. The hind toe is the most robust. The greater part of the outer toe, and the first phalanx of each of the others, are reticulated with small roundish scales both on their upper and under surfaces. The claws are very strong, much curved, acute, and grooved beneath ; the hind one and inner fore one being much longer than the other two: the middle one has an acute inner edge. G 42 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Dimensions Of male No. 1. Inches. _ Lines. Inches. _ Lines, Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill along its ridge 3 the tail 6 3 6 4 24 0 >» of the tarsus . ° 5 6 2 9 5, Of the tail 9 2 ° - 10 0 >, Of the middle toe C : lk 9 5, of the longest quill feather i 12 6 5, Of the middle claw 5 . 1 0 5 of the bill, from the angle of the 5, Of the hind claw, following its curve 1 6 mouth . ' : 9 A 1 6 Another specimen (No. 3), which was killed in the woody country three or four degrees of latitude farther north than the preceding, may possibly be a female, in very perfect plumage, as it is of a much larger size. It strongly resembles the male above described, the colour of the dorsal aspect being merely less bright, the (four) blackish-brown bars across the tail more distinct,—the subterminal one being the broadest. The dark streaks on the under plumage are also a little broader and more general, and the grey zig-zag lines are darker and more nume- rous. The distal half of the first phalanx of the middle toe is covered above with broad transverse scales, instead of being reticulated as in male No. 1; in this respect agreeing with the female, No. 2, described below, though not with an- other and very similar specimen of unascertained sex, No. 4. Dimensions Of No, 3, sex not ascertained. Inches. Lines. Inches. _—_ Lines. Length (total) ° A : 4 . 28 0 Length of the tarsus ° ° . - 3 0 5, of the tail 5 9 : sig pul 6 >, of the middle toe . : 2, 0 5, of the longest quill feather . . 14 0 5, of the hind claw 3 6 a 8 DESCRIPTION Of a female (No. 2), killed at her nest, in company with No. 1 male. Cotour.—The prevailing hue of the dorsal aspect is dark liver-brown, relieved in some places by white, in others by pale wood-brown. On the head and back of the neck the liver- brown occupies the centres of the feathers, almost confined to the shaft at the base, but spreading out broadly at the tip: the wood-brown forms the margin, and the white a broad semi-elliptical lateral mark on each web. On the back the dark-brown, narrowly edged with white at the tip, is alone visible; but the feathers are dark-grey at the base, and are crossed in their middles by a concealed brownish-white bar. On the rump and lesser wing coverts the white is mostly replaced by wood-brown. ‘The quill feathers and their immediate coverts present alternate bars of lighter and darker shades of liver-brown, with a few mottled white and brown spots on the outer webs and some larger ones on the inner webs partially occu- pying the place of the paler brown bars. The tail coverts are barred alternately with liver- brown and white, tinged and mottled with brown. The tail is crossed by five blackish-brown bars, separated by broccoli-brown spaces of greater breadth. These bars are bounded by FALCONIDE. 43 narrow interrupted white lines, and, on the outer feathers, the broccoli-brown is replaced by white mottled with brown. The ground colour of the under surface is white. The cheeks are streaked with liver-brown. On the neck and breast the brown marks have an oblong shape, and on the belly they are oval. The upper surface of the middle foe is scutellated from the middle of the first phalanx to the claw, and reticulated at the base. The tail is considerably rounded, its outer feathers being an inch and a half shorter than the middle ones. Some of the quill feathers in this specimen had moulted recently before it was killed. DIMENSIONS Of the female, No. 2. Inches. _ Lines. Inches. Lives. Length (total) < c ° ° - 28 0 Length of the tarsus. : c . 3 2 >, of the tail c : 5 er 0 >, ofthe middle toe . - 1 11 >> of the longest quill feather . . 13 6 5, of its claw 6 . 5 ~ 1 0 No. 4 is a specimen which was killed near Jasper’s house, on the Rocky Moun- tains. Its sex was not ascertained, but its plumage is very similar to that of the preceding, though in a more perfect state. The tail is still more rounded, but the feathers composing it are individually more acute and have a white tip half an inch broad. The basal half of the middle toe is also more reticulated than that of No. 2, resembling in that respect male No. 1. The total length of this specimen is 29 inches. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen killed at York Factory, Aug. 14, 1822, supposed to be a young bird of that season. From the recent specimen *. Cotour.—General tints of the dorsal aspect blackish-brown and ferruginous. On the head the former colour forms an elliptical spot in the centre of each feather; on the wings and scapularies it occupies more space, the ferruginous tint being confined to a narrow border, and sometimes to an irregular streak across the feather. The quill feathers are liver-brown, slightly clouded with wood-brown. The tail is tipped with soiled-white, and has three or four broad, but distant, bars on a broccoli-brown ground. There is a slight intermixture of white on the tail coverts. The under surface of the neck and body and the linings of the wings are wood-brown, with elliptical black marks. Towards the vent the feathers are almost white, with black shafts. The under aspects of the quill and tail feathers are yellowish-grey, barred with brownish-black. Bill bluish-grey at the base, blackish at the tip: the cutting margin of the upper mandible slightly sinuated. Cere orange-coloured. Lyelid greyish. Iris sulphur- yellow. Turse yellow. Length, 24 inches; extent, 43; length of the tail, 12 inches. * This is the specimen noticed by Mr. Sabine in Franklin’s Journey. 44 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [13.] 2. Accipirer PENNSYLVANICUS. (Swainson.) Slate-coloured Hawk. Genus. Accipiter. AnTie. Ray. Slate-coloured Hawk. (Falco Pennsylvanicus.) Wuson, vi. p. 13, pl. 46,f.1. Male. Autour 4 bec sinueux. TEmM. PV. col. 67. Female. ? Falco (Astur) velox. Bonar. Syn., p. 29, No. 14. Accipiter Fringilloides. Wicors. Zool. Journ., iii., p. 436, No. 11. ? Peepeequaisees. CREE INDIANs. (MOoNSONEES.) A specimen of this bird, killed in the vicinity of Moose Factory, and deposited by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Zoological Museum, enables us to enume- rate it as an inhabitant of the fur countries, although it was not seen by any of the members of the Expedition in their several journeys. The admirable figure of Wilson is so perfectly characteristic of this Hawk, that we feel no doubt in consi- dering our specimen as truly belonging to the same species. Less certainty, how- ever, attends the synonyme here quoted of the Planches coloriées of M. Temminck ; for the figure is either remarkably inaccurate, or it represents a bird very different from the female of F’. Pennsylvanicus,—the tail being represented as distinctly rounded, whereas, in the species described by Wilson, the termination of all the feathers is perfectly even. The text, unfortunately, affords nothing to solve the question : should this be an error of the artist, the figure must be considered, not as ‘‘ le jeune de ’'année,’”’ as supposed by M. Temminck, but as a male of the second year, just assuming the adult plumage,—a fact sufficiently indicated by the figure, which represents some indistinct transverse bands on the breast. The females and males of the first year are marked with longitudinal stripes on all parts of the under plumage. Still greater doubts impede the right understanding of the Accipiter fringilloides of Mr. Vigors, whose description, minute in all that regards colour, is deficient in the three most material points which might have solved our difficulties ; namely, the form of the tail, the relative proportion of the quills, and the comparative sinuosity of the upper mandible. So far, however, as this account goes, it might lead to the suspicion of its having been taken from a young male A. Pennsylvanicus, the “ frontis plume brunnescentes fusco striate” being probably the indication of youth; while the measurements of the bill and tarsus sufficiently agree with those of our bird*. Yet the length of the wings, stated at only five inches, if not an error of the press or of transcription, consider- * It is very desirable that authors should adopt one uniform mode of measurement, or at least explain their methods more accurately, until some definite plan is adopted.—Sw. = ei ’ FALCONID.E. 45 ably militates against this supposition. It is to be hoped that this respectable ormthologist will give an improved account of his A. fringilloides, that its true characters may be known. This is the more necessary from there being another Accipiter, inhabiting the extratropical latitudes of America, so completely resem- bling A. Pennsylvanicus in its immature plumage, or in the female dress, that the colours in both are precisely alike. It differs, however, from both Pennsylvanicus and fringilloides not only in being much larger, but in having the tail distinctly rounded, and the upper mandible of the bill much less festooned. We have hitherto seen only the female of this species; but the above characters may be advantageously employed to separate it from Pennsylvanicus*. It was sent from Real del Monte, and is now in the possession of our friend, Mr. Taylor. Inde- pendent of the above distinctions, it is important to notice, that the anterior scales on the tarsus of Pennsylvanicus are entire, being, apparently, formed externally of one entire piece ; whereas, in Mexicanus, the transverse divisions are distinctly visible. The. particular structure of these parts in fringillotdes has not been mentioned.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen killed near Moose Factory, lat. 51°. Cotour of the upper plumage blackish-grey, brightening towards the rump into bluish-grey ; all the shafts being black. There are several concealed large white spots on the scapularies. The bastard wings, primary coverts, and five first quill feathers, have a dull umber-brown colour, as if much worn: the succeeding five (new ones) have a shining blackish-brown tint, and the secondaries are nearly of the colour of the rest of the superior plumage. Deeper shades of colour form some obscure bars on the quill feathers, and there are six or seven large white marks on their inner webs. The tail has also a worn appearance, and it is crossed by several alternate bars of umber and wood-brown, and is tipped with white. The shafts of the flag and tail feathers are brown. Under surface. Throat white, with black shafts. Breast, belly, flanks, and thighs wood-brown, broadly barred with white. The linings of the wings are brownish-white, with transverse peaked brown spots. ‘The bars on the under sur- face of the quill and tail feathers are very distinct. The under tail coverts are white. Bill and claws blackish. Legs yellow. Form, &c.—Bill curved from the base, compressed, with a very distinct obtuse lobe on * Accrprrer Mexicanus. (Swainson.) Sp. Cu.—Larger than A. Pennsylvanicus. Tail rounded, bill less sinuated. Length of the wing when closed, nine inches and a quarter. Inhabits Real del Monte, Mexico. The validity of this specific distinction must, nevertheless, depend upon an accurate examination of the F. velox of Wilson, to whose description the Mexican bird closely approxi- mates. The size of velox appears smaller, being stated at thirteen inches, and the tail is ‘* nearly even.’”’ Our bird is full seventeen inches, and the tail much rounded, the four outer feathers being graduated, and the outermost nearly three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle feathers. We have not yet personally examined a specimen of veloa, which Prince C. Bonaparte considers the female of Wilson’s Pennsylvanicus ; this supposition, however, is clearly erroneous.—Sw. 46 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. the cutting margin under the nostrils. Nostrils oval, longitudinal. Wings falling three inches short of the end of the tail. The fourth wing feather is the longest: the first is shorter than the secondaries *; the third to the sixth inclusive have their exterior webs deeply and abruptly sinuated ; and the second to the fifth inclusive have their inner webs sinuated. The tail is long and emarginated at the end. Tarsi long and slender, feathered about half an inch below the joint, and covered elsewhere before and behind with large obliquely transverse scales, whose separations are scarcely visible. The middle toe is long and slender, being more than twice the length of the hind one or inner fore one: a web, extending half the length of its first phalanx, connects it to the outer toe. The claws are much curved, compressed, and very acute ; the hind one and inner fore one are the largest. Dim ensrons. Inches. _— Lines, Inches, Lines, Length from the point of the bill to the end Length of the bill measured gait the ridge 0 of the tail 2 C 6 3 8} 0 >> of the tarsus . 1 10 5, of the tail 5 é mn 6 5, of the middle toe I 3 55 Of the longest quill Roxie 6 6 3 5 Of its claw C . 0 4 5, Of the bill, from the angle of the >, ofthe hind toe . 3 6 0 6 mouth : 2 : 6 4 0 7 55. Of its claw : F ‘ ' 0 6 —R. DESCRIPTION Of a female bird, sent from Real del Monte, and now in the collection of John Taylor, Esq., F.R.S., G.S., &c. Bill, feet, and claws, as in the male. Corour.—The general aspect of the upper plumage is grey-brown, the feathers on the back and wing coverts being slightly margined with pale ferruginous: those on the head and neck are white at the base and on their sides; while those on the crown are nearly black, with pale ferruginous sides. The ground colour of all the under plumage is white, each fea- ther having a very lengthened and contracted tear-shaped spot down the middle: sides of the head, or ear feathers, striped in the same manner. Throat nearly white. Thighs white, each feather marked by a central transverse band, and a tear-shaped spot near the tip. The longest of the upper tail coverts white, each feather having two blackish-brown bands. The tail itself is grey, with four brown bands,—the whole of the feathers being precisely of an equal length. Wings reaching to one-third the length of the tail. Lesser quills greyish, banded with four somewhat Junulated blackish bands; inner margins white ; greater quills with six bands. The fourth and fifth quills equal and longest ; the second and seventh nearly equal. Tail and quill feathers beneath white, banded with three or four black bars. DIMENSIONS. Inches, Length from the bill to the tail, about ; B 5S , of the bill from the angle of the mouth m the tip of tte anes mandible * . ¢ Extreme length of the wings when closed : ° . 4 q : 63 35 tail from the root of the fexhers to ihe Oh 2 : . 6 BS tarsus from the upper base of the hallux to the end of the bone . 13 from the lower base of the hallux to the middle of the tarsal joint 25 39 99 Sia * The wing of the specimen being ina state of moult, the relative eit of all the quill feathers cannot be ascertained, BUTIK O VULGARIS. Cs London Lioted for Sohn Murray Lee hsellar tele Ndnuralty, January 14829. FALCONIDA. 47 [14.] 1. Butreo vutearis. Common Buzzard. GENus. Buteo. BECHSTEIN. Plain Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 207, No. 103.2? Young female ? Falco obsoletus. Latu. Jnd., i., p. 28, sp. 61.? Prate xxvit. Mate. The Common Buzzard arriving in the fur countries in the middle of April, very soon afterwards begins to build its nest, and, having reared its young, departs about the end of September. It haunts the low alluvial points of land which stretch out under the high banks of a river, and may be observed sitting for a long time motionless on the bough of a tree, watching patiently for some small quadruped, bird, or reptile to pass within its reach. As soon as it espies its prey, it glides silently into the air, and, sweeping easily but rapidly down, seizes it in its claws. When disturbed, it makes a short circuit, and soon settles on another perch. One of our specimens had two middle-sized toads in ils crop. It builds its nest on a tree, of short sticks, lining it sparingly with deer’s hair. The eggs, from three to five in number, are equal in size to those of the domestic fowl, and have a greenish-white colour, with a few large dark-brown blotches at the thick end. The Common Buzzard is not mentioned by Wilson or Bonaparte as a North American bird. It was seen by the Expedition as far north as the fifty-seventh parallel of latitude, and it most probably has a still higher range. Pennant * states it to be an inhabitant of New York, Newfoundland, and Hudson’s Bay ; but as he refers to the Ash-coloured Buzzard of Edwards as a representation of his bird, it is probable that he had not seen an American specimen of the Common Buzzard. The toothed bill, round nostrils, tarsi half reticulated half feathered, general appearance, and the circumstance of its preying on the Willow Grouse, all point out Edwards’s bird to be the Folco Islandicus, under which we have quoted it—R. The minor groups referred by ornithologists to this division of the family, have not hitherto been investigated; it would, therefore, be hazardous to offer any decisive opinion as to the type. In the subject of this article, the most common * Arct. Zool., ii., p. 207, No. 103. 48 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. example, the smallness of the head and bill is very remarkable ; the sinuosity of the cutting margin of the upper mandible is rather more developed in the male than in the female; the second quill feather is slightly longer than the fifth, the third is equal to the fourth, or even exceeds it, and the first is intermediate in length between the seventh and eighth; the third and fourth are conspicuously longer than the rest ;—a structure of wing which adapts this bird for more rapid flight than either the Buteo borealis or Astur palumbarius.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a male, shot, on the 17th of June, at the nest, which contained three eggs. Plains of the Saskatchewan. Cotour of the dorsal aspect between clove and blackish browns, the margins of the feathers being paler. The head and posterior part of the back are darker, while on the rest of the upper plumage the borders of the feathers fade gradually into soiled yellowish-brown. The quill feathers and longest scapularies have a shining blackish-brown colour; there are some obscure bars on the former, produced by a slight deepening of the colour, and at the base of the inner webs of the first and second quill feathers, these bars are slightly mottled with white. The secondaries and a few of the adjoining primaries are very narrowly tipped with brownish white. The tail is deep clove-brown, darkening towards its end into blackish- brown, and having a very narrow soiled tip. On a close inspection, it is seen to be crossed by about seven bars of a deeper shade, the terminal one an inch broad, the others much narrower. Under surface. The cheeks are pure clove-brown ; the throat is white; the sides of the neck, its fore part next the breast, and the upper part of the latter, are dull broccoli- brown, with a slight intermixture of yellowish-brown. The belly and thighs are pale yellowish- brown, indistinctly barred with white. The vent feathers and under tail coverts are soiled white. The flanks are yellowish-brown, with some patches of clove-brown. The linings of the wings are brownish-white, with a few dispersed specks of yellowish-brown; and the greater interior coverts are barred with dark-brown. The under surfaces of the quill feathers are blackish-grey, deepening at their tips into blackish-brown, and barred towards the base of their inner webs with yellowish-grey. The tail beneath is very pale ash-grey, crossed by seven bars of clove-brown. Bill bluish-black. Cere and legs yellowish. Claws black. Form, &c.—Head round, with a very convex crown. Bill broad at the base, flatly convex above, and much compressed towards the tip, which forms a rather slender acute hook. The curve of the ridge of the bill is elliptical. The cutting margin of the upper mandible is sinu- ated, and the lobe is rendered more distinct by a shallow and wide furrow on the side of the bill immediately anterior to it. The lower mandible is rounded, or very obliquely truncated, at the end. The nostrils are roundish, approaching to pear-shaped, with the narrow corner turned forwards and upwards. The cere covers a large portion of the bill, and is quite naked and exposed on its ridge, the feathers of the forehead lying smoothly back and receding from it: on the sides it is partially hidden by the black hairs which spring from the lores. Wings. The third quill feather is the longest, the fourth is nearly a quarter of an inch, and the second FALCONIDE. 49 an inch and a quarter shorter; the fifth is just perceptibly shorter than the second; the sixth to the tenth diminish an inch each in succession ; and the first just exceeds the eighth. The inner webs of the first three are strongly sinuated, and the outer webs of the second, third, and fourth, more obliquely sinuated. The éail is very square, the two centre feathers being rather the shortest. The outer thigh feathers reach half way down the tarsus. The farsi are short and strong, covered anteriorly with feathers for about an inch below the joint, naked their whole length posteriorly. They are protected before by about eleven large transverse shield-shaped scales, and there are about as many equally large behind, their sides being reticulated with small scales. The toes are short, the middle and outer one connected by a short membrane. The outer toe is a little longer than the inner one, the middle one is fully a quarter of an inch longer than the outer one, and the hind one is the shortest. There are four shield-shaped scales on the hind toe, four or five on the inner one, five or six on the outer one, and about twelve on the middle one; but there are some slight variations in different specimens. Dimensions Of a male. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill, measured along its ridge 1 4 the tail : . RY 5, of the cere on the ridge 4 0. @ 6 5 Of the tail ° 6 3 6 >, Of the tarsus 0 2 6 5 of the longest quill endne 5 lb) 0 55 of the middle toe 9 1 9 >, of the bill from the angle of the 5 of its claw : ‘ : ; 0 9 mouth . : 1 6 5, Of the hind toe 0 9 >> from the anterior eize of the Brie > of its claw 0 11 to the tip of the bill : - cS 1 6 DESCRIPTION Of a female, killed at the nest, near Carlton, May 22, 1827. Cotour of the dorsal aspect almost precisely the same as that of the male; but the feathers are more downy, and the blackish bars on the tail are more distinct. The throat is sparingly streaked with brown; the breast is darker than that of the male; the belly has less of the bright yellowish-brown, and is studded with short bars of blackish-brown : the flanks are also strongly barred with the latter colour, and the yellowish-brown of the thigh feathers is darker than in the male. The cere and legs have a bluish livid colour. The tarsi are thicker than in the male. The third and fourth quill feathers are of equal length, the relative proportions of the others being the same as in the male. Dimensions Of the female. Inches, Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of - Length of the tarsus 5 : ° . 3 the tail . ‘ é c a AH 0 5, of the middle toe . - d 1 ll 5 of the tail 2 ‘ - 10 0 55 of its claw : 6 3 - O 9 » of the longest quill feather ceelG 6 50 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [15.] 2. Butreo poreauis. Red-tailed Buzzard. Genus. Buteo. Ray. American Buzzard. Latru. Syn.,i., p.50, sp. 31. Mature. Red-tailed Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 205, No. 100. Mature. Leverian Falcon. IpEM, ii, p. 206, No. 101.2? Fide Bonap. Falco borealis. Laru. Jnd., i., p. 25, sp. 50. Falco leverianus. IprEM, i., p. 18, sp. 31. Fide Bonap. Red-tailed Hawk. (Falco borealis.) Wuuson, vi., p. 75, pl. 52, f. 2, misprinted for f. 1. Mature male. American Buzzard, or White-breasted Hawk. (Falco leverianus.) IpEm, vi. p. 78, pl. 52, f. 1, misprinted for f.2. Fide Bonap. Falco borealis. Sasine. Frankl. Journ., p.670. Bonar. Syn., p. 32, No. 20. The Red-tailed Buzzard is rather common in the fur-countries, which it visits in the summer. It winters in Pennsylvania, and, according to Wilson, even breeds within the limits of the United States. Specimens were shot by the members of the Expedition on the Rocky Mountains, the plains of the Saskatchewan, and at York Factory, between the fifty-third and fifty-seventh parallels of latitude *. It preys on small quadrupeds, birds, and frogs. In the spring of the year, when the small Marmots, that inhabit the plains of the Saskatchewan, leave their bur- rows in quest of a mate, and, in the ardour of the pursuit, have laid aside their usual wariness, they often fall a prey to this Buzzard, which, sweeping along near the ground, with scarcely any change in the rapidity or direction of its flight, singles out one of these little animals, and, striking its claws into its neck, carries it off to the distance of several hundred yards, alights on the ground, and tears it to pieces.—R. The bill of the Red-tailed Buzzard is proportionally shorter and higher than that of the common Buzzard, with the cere confined to a smaller portion of its base : the sinuosity of the upper mandible is also much greater. In all these characters there is a close resemblance to the Goshawk, whose bill is not so strongly sinuated as this is; it is, nevertheless, shorter, and consequently stronger, than that of the present bird +.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a female, killed 16th May, 1827, at Carlton House, lat. 53°. Cotour of the dorsal aspect intermediate between deep clove-brown and liver-brown. On * Mr. Taylor has also received five adult specimens from the Table Land of Mexico, procured, near Real del Monte, by the late Mr. Morgan.—Sw. + In Audubon’s plate of the male and female F'alco borealis, the former has a strongly and sharply sinuated upper mandible, whilst in the latter the cutting margin is nearly straight.—R. FALCONIDA. on the head this colour is unmixed, a little white appearing only at the base of the bill. On the neck it is relieved by some of the feathers being edged with paler yellowish-brown. The back, again, has a darker tint, approaching more nearly to liver-brown, and is unspotted. On the rump there are a few bars and edgings of yellowish-brown. The primaries, their coverts, and the secondaries, are of the prevailing tint, crossed by bars of dark liver-brown, the ter- minal bar being by much the broadest. The secondaries and some of the adjoining primaries are narrowly tipped with white, and both these classes of feathers have their inner webs to- wards the quills barred with white and brown. Some of the longest tail coverts are white, clouded by yellowish-brown and crossed by narrow bars of liver-brown. The fail is brownish- orange, tipped with soiled white, with a subterminal bar of blackish-brown: there are also traces of thirteen other brown bars. Under surface. The cheeks and neck beneath are coloured as on the dorsal aspect; the breast is white, with brown shafts; and the belly and flanks blackish-brown, with white blotches and cross bars. The vent and under tail coverts are white. The thigh feathers are soiled yellowish-white, with narrow faint cross bars of brown. The linings of the wings are white, with some yellowish-brown markings ; and there is a large patch of blackish-brown adjoining to the upper edge of the wing. The greater inner coverts are barred with brown. The inner surfaces of the quill feathers are blackish-brown towards the tips and pearl-grey towards the quills, mottled with brown and crossed by narrow bars of the same. The tail is slightly tinged with buff-orange beneath, and is crossed by very faint bars of blackish-grey. Bill bluish-black. Legs bluish. Form, &c.—The head is rather large. The bill is wide at the base and compressed ante- rior to the cere, with a roundish ridge and a strong hooked tip: the curve of the ridge is ellip- tical, but it is not so much depressed at the base as that of the common Buzzard. The cutting edge of the upper mandible has a very distinct obtuse lobe: the lower mandible is obliquely truncated at the tip. The nostrils are oval, nearly longitudinal, and partly concealed by hairs. The lores are densely covered with short white hair-like feathers, upon which long black hairs are arranged in a stelliform manner. The eyebrow projects as in the Eagles. Wings. The fourth quill feather is the longest; the third and fifth are only a line or two shorter; the second and sixth are half an inch shorter than these three ; the seventh is more than an inch shorter than the sixth ; and the eighth is equal to the first and about an inch shorter than the seventh. The outer webs of the second, third, fourth, and fifth are chamfered away towards their tips, and in the three latter very suddenly : the web of the sixth is narrowed so gradually as not to produce a sinuation. The first to the fourth inclusive have their inner webs strongly sinuated, and the fifth has a very oblique sinuation. The tarsi are strong, feathered about two inches below the joint anteriorly, and protected beneath by seven large transverse scales: naked their whole length posteriorly, with thirteen large scales. The hind ¢oe is the shortest, the outer one is nearly as long as the inner one, and the middle one is four or five lines longer than these: the latter is connected to the outer one by a short web. There are six or seven scutelli on the middle toe, and four on each of the others. H 2 52 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Dimensions Of the female. Inches. _ Lines. Inches. _ Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill from the angle of the the tail . . 3 0 f 25 0 mouth 3 . c : 4 1 9 >, Of the tail q A : - 10 0 5, of the tarsus . : e 3 3 5, of the longest quill feather - 16 0 5, of the middle toe : C o il 10 5, of the bill measured along its ridge 1 6 [16.] 3. Burro Lacopus. Rough-legged Falcon. Genus. Buteo. Ray. Rough-legged Falcon. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p.200, No. 92. Old female. Chocolate-coloured Falcon. Ipem, ii., p. 201, No. 94, pl. 200, f. 2.? * Placentia Falcon. Latu. Syn. Suppl., p.19, sp. 57. Old bird, autumn. IpEM, Syn., i., p. 76, sp. 57.? Falco lagopus. Latu. Jnd.,i., p. 19, sp. 33. Falco Sclavonicus. IpEM, i., p. 26, sp. 54. Falco spadiceus. IpEM, i., p. 27, sp. 57, excl. syn. Phil. Trans. Buse gantée. Vatiy. Ois. d’Afr., i., pl. 18. Rough-legged Falcon. (Falco lagopus.) Wutson, iv., p. 59, pl. 33, f. 1. Falco lagopus. TEmm., i. p.65. Bonap. Syn., p. 32, No. 18. Pcare xxviit. A specimen of this bird, in most perfect plumage, was killed in the month of September, by Mr. Drummond, on the Smoking River, one of the upper branches of the Peace River. It arrives in the fur-countries in April or May, and, having reared its young, retires southwards early in October. It winters on the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, returning to the north again in the spring. It is by no means an uncommon bird in the districts through which the Expedition tra- velled, but, being very shy, only one specimen was procured. A pair were seen at their nest, built of sticks, on a lofty tree standing on a low, moist, alluvial point * Although the Chocolate Falcon of PENNANT must belong either to this species or to that of F. Sancti-Johannis, yet the Chocolate Falcon of ForstTER, with whom the name originated, is evidently a different species, perhaps the young of F'. cyaneus. This author does not describe his specimen, but merely says that it is smaller than the Moor Buzzard, which it much resembles. Had this bird been the F’. /agopus, he could scarcely have overlooked the feathered legs. The Bay Falcon, var. A.. LatHam (Syn., i. p. 54, No. 34), is merely a reference of Forster’s bird to the Moor Buzzard. The description of the Placentia Falcon of the same author (Syn., i., p. 76, sp. 57) was taken from a drawing, and will apply either to F. lagopus or F. Sancti-Johannis ; but the Placentia Falcon, described in his Supplement (p. 19, sp. 57), is undoubtedly F. /agopus, and agrees in every particular with the one we have described in the text. ‘A , MS ry 74) GOK go f PLLUUD/ NY PDAIWY 2D 20 APIA YO? ET OLAS UMO7 MD OQ” MORUIT a + a fe Note! (eran “SQHAONMVTI CGULAGg RG ) FALCONIDE. 53 of land, almost encircled by a bend of the Saskatchewan. They sailed round the spot in a wide circle, occasionally settling on the top of a tree, but were too wary to allow us to come within gunshot ; so that, after spending much time in vain, we were fain to relinquish the chase. _ In the softness and fulness of its plumage, its feathered legs, and habits, this bird bears some resemblance to the Owls. It flies slowly, sits for a long time on the bough of a tree, watching for mice, frogs, &c., and is often seen skimming over swampy pieces of ground, and hunting for its prey by the subdued daylight, which illuminates even the midnight hours in the high parallels of latitude. Wilson observes that, in Pennsylvania, it is in the habit of coursing over the meadows long after the sun has set. It is fitted for this nocturnal chase by the softness of its plumage, which contributes to render its flight noiseless, like that of an Owl.—R. . The small bill of the B. lagopus, with scarcely an indication of the festoon or sinus, and its long and attenuated wings, may be thought to place it as a typical example of this division; but the foregoing observation renders the accuracy of this supposition very questionable.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen in very perfect plumage, killed near the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, lat. 55°, Sept. 1826, supposed to be a male. Cotour.—The head and adjoining part of the neck are pale wood-brown approaching to white, streaked longitudinally with liver-brown. The remainder of the neck, the back, scapu- laries, and lesser wing coverts, are liver-brown, each feather bordered laterally, but not at the end, with reddish-orange or bright rust-colour. These edgings are darker and very nar- row on the rump ; but they are broad on the tail coverts, which are also tipped with white. The outer webs of the bastard wing, greater coverts, and secondaries, are liver-brown ; their inner webs are mostly white, barred next the shafts with brown. The ends of the primaries are blackish-brown, with a greyish tinge on the outer webs; the inner webs next the quills are pure white, with some slight brown markings along the shaft. The tail is brownish-white on the basal half, and blackish-brown on the remainder, with a narrow tip of soiled white. The feathers have a ferruginous border posteriorly; and there is much white on their inner webs. Under surface. The throat and under aspect of the neck are coloured like the upper surface, but the brown streaks are narrower. The breast is wood-brown, with liver-brown shafts. The belly and flanks are dark umber-brown, which, towards the vent, is mixed with ferruginous ; and in the outer thigh feathers these two colours are equal in quantity, the dark one being con- fined to the centres of the feathers. The under tail coverts are white, tinged with brown. The under surface of the tail is yellowish-white on the basal, and slate-grey on the distal half. The linings of the wings are mostly wood-brown: there is a large blackish-brown patch near the outer edge of the wing; and the under primary coverts are blackish-grey. The inner surfaces of the quill feathers are pure white at the base and shining blackish-brown towards their tips. 5A NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. The short feathers covering the thighs and legs are pale wood-brown, with small longitudinal marks. Form, &c.—Bill much curved, the arc less elliptical than that of the two preceding species. It is considerably compressed, but has a rather obtuse, rounded ridge. The cutting edge of the upper mandible is very slightly undulated, and the hooked point is rather short, though strong. The gape is wide, the angle of the mouth extending under the orbit. The cere is short when compared with that of the two preceding species, and it is partly concealed by the swelling out of the feathers of the forehead. Nostrils large and roundish. ores fur- nished with black hairs, which are disposed in a stelliform manner over a dense covering of white feathers. Hyebrows projecting. The plumage of the head is very compact, without any indication of the ruff or facial circle, which exists in the following species. Wings falling an inch short of the end of the tail. The third quill feather is the longest ; the fourth is scarcely perceptibly shorter ; the fifth is a quarter of an inch shorter; the second is rather. more than an inch and a quarter shorter than the third; the sixth is an inch shorter than the second, or more than two inches shorter than the fifth; the seventh is an inch and a half shorter than the sixth ; and the three following ones diminish half an inch each in succession. The outer webs of the third, fourth, and fifth, are rather suddenly chamfered away: that of the second is also narrowed, but so near the quills as to be scarcely evident. The inner webs of the first to the fourth inclusive are strongly sinuated. The outer margins of the quill fea- thers are close and even, not with the tips of the barbs reverted, as in the first wing feathers of the Owls ; their inner margins, however, approach to those of the latter genus, in being thinner and more detached than those of the other Buzzards or Harriers described in this work. ‘The tail is moderately rounded. The scapularies are rather long, and the belly is clothed with unusually thick and long plumage: the under tail coverts are particularly downy. The outer thigh feathers reach nearly to the feet. The ¢arst are thickly clothed with short feathers, which project over the roots of the toes. The foes are short and strong. The middle one is the third of an inch longer than the others; the remaining three differ little from each other in length, but the hind one is the most robust and has the longest claw. The basal halves of the toes are covered with small irregularly hexagonal scales; the outer halves are covered by shield-shaped transverse scales—five on the middle toe, four on the lateral ones, and three on the hind one. The claws are black, not much curved, sharp, and grooved beneath: the outer edge of the middle one is sharp. Divensions. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill measured along its ridge 1] 2 the tail ° s 3 . 5 23 6 > of the bill from the angle of the mouth 1 7 55 of the tail . a : 6 8) 6 > oOfthetarsus . 6 0 a. 4 7 >, of the longest quill feather ald, 6 5, of the middle toe 6 5 ¢ Wl 3 4G FALCONID/A. 55 [17.] 4. Burgeo (Circus) cyaneus? var.? Americanus. American Hen- Harrier. Genus. Buteo. Ray. Sub-genus. Circus. ANTIQ. The Ring-tailed Hawk. (Pygargus accipiter, Canadensis.) Epwanrps, pl. 107. Female from Hudson’s Bay. Falco spadiceus. Forst. Phil. Trans., \xii., p. 383, No.2.? Yearling from Hudson’s Bay. Moor Buzzard, var. A. Bay Falcon. Latu. Syn.,i., p.54, No. 34.2 Forster’s specimen. Moor Buzzard, var. B. White-rumped Bay F. IpEm, i. p.54, No. 34. Young; described from a drawing made at Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay Ring-tail. IpEM, p. 91, sp. 76. Ring-tail. Penn. <Arct. Zool., ii. p. 209, sp. 106. From Hudson’s Bay. Falco cyaneus, var. 8. Latu., Ind., p. 40, sp. 94. Marsh Hawk. (Falco uliginosus.) Wuison, vi., p. 67, pl. 51, f.1. Young. Pennsylvania. Falco uliginosus. SaBinE. Frankl. Journ., p. 671. Young female. Hudson’s Bay. Falco cyaneus. Bonap. Orn., ii., p. 30, pl. 12. Adult male. Annooch-kee-nepeek-queshew. (Snake Hunter.) Creer Inpians. Poate xxix. Mats. This bird takes its prey from the ground, hunts long and diligently for it on the wing, and quarters the district regularly, so as to survey every spot, wheeling backwards and forwards in easy, graceful circles, with little seeming effort or flapping of the wings. It is wary, but not timid,—avoiding the sports- man, but not easily driven away from its hunting-grounds. It is a common species on the plains of the Saskatchewan, seldom less than five or six being in sight at a time, each keeping to a particular beat until it has completely examined it. Their flight was in general low ; but although Mr. Drummond and I watched them for hours at a time, and lay as still on the grass as possible, they invariably rose out of gunshot as they passed over our heads, and the specimens were procured only by lying in ambush near the nest. Notwithstanding they appeared to be almost constantly on the wing, we seldom saw them carry anything away; and they seemed on the whole to be less successful hunters than the little Falco sparverius, or the lazy Buzzards, that sat watching for their prey on the bough ofa tree. A small green snake is very plentiful in that quarter, and forms a considerable por- tion of the food of this bird,—whence its Cree name of the ‘‘ Snake Hunter.” The nests that we observed were built on the ground, by the sides of small lakes, of moss, grass, feathers, and hair, and contained from three to five eggs, of a smaller size than those of the domestic fowl, but similar in shape, and having a bluish-white colour, without spots. The eggs measured an inch and three-quarters 56 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. in length, and were an inch across where widest. The natives informed us that these birds build indifferently on the ground or in low bushes. They reach the fur- countries in the latter end of April, and depart about the end of September. They are common in the United States, and are said by the Prince of Musignano to be found in all the varieties of plumage in Florida, but that in the northern States the young only are known. We saw only mature birds on the plains of the Sas- katchewan, and none but the young (or what are considered as such) on the shores of Great Bear Lake. It is possible, that the old and the immature birds may keep apart in winter as well as summer, and migrate, on the change of seasons, through the same number of degrees of latitude. I could not ascertain whether the species breeds so far north as Bear Lake. The identity of the American Hen-Harrier with the European one has not been satisfactorily proved. The very dissimilar plumage of the males and females, and the changes they undergo from age, render the investigation difficult. The sexes of the European bird were long considered to be distinct species, the male being termed F. cyaneus, or Hen-Harrier, and the female F. pygargus, or Ring-tail. This mistake was rectified by Montagu, in a paper published in the Linnean Transactions ; and he at the same time established another species (F. cineraceus), which had been previously confounded with the F'. cyaneus. The young birds, being more easily procured, were until lately the only American specimens sub- mitted to naturalists, and were considered to be a peculiar species to which the name of Marsh Hawk * (F’. wliginosus) was applied. The matter is not yet cleared of doubt; and it is possible, even admitting the identity of the F. wliginosus and F. cyaneus, that the F. cineraceus, or another species, may exist in North America, individuals of which, being confounded with the Marsh Hawk, may have been the origin of various discrepancies in the descriptions given by authors. Hight specimens were brought home by the last Expedition. Five of these (three males and two females) were killed in the fifty-third parallel of latitude early in the breeding-season, and are undoubtedly all of one species; that fact being clearly ascertained by one of the pairs having been killed at their nest, which contained three eggs. They correspond with the sexes of the F. cyaneus of Europe in mature plumage, though they are not, perhaps, very old birds. The other three specimens were procured at Great Bear Lake, in latitude * The Marsh Hawk (Accipiter paludarius) of Epwarps, pl. 291, is engraved and described from a drawing made by Mr. William Bartram. It has stout reticulated farsi, and is otherwise so dissimilar to our bird, that it cannot be quoted as a synonyme. Pennant and Latham take their descriptions from Edwards. Wilson describes the young of our bird under the name of Marsh Hawk, but intimates that he has little doubt of its being the same with the Euro; pean Hen-Harrier. The Prince of Musignano considers them to be identical. ry FALCONIDE. 57 65°, where none of the mature birds were seen. They differ widely in appearance from the five old birds. For the advantage of reference in the subjoined remarks, the specimens are numbered in the following list :— 1. A mature male, killed at the nest, near Carlton, May 19. This specimen much resembles the figure in Bonap., Orn., ii., p. 30, pl. 12. 2. The female companion to the above. The oviduct contained two full-sized eggs, and there were three in the nest. 3. A mature male, killed at Carlton, in May. 4. A mature female, killed at Carlton, in June. 5. A mature male, killed at Cumberland House, lat. 54°, in May. 6, 7. Young males, killed at Bear Lake, in May, soon after the first arrival of the migratory birds, and therefore at least ten months old. 8. Young bird, supposed to be a female, killed, in September, at the same place. This may be a yearling. These eight specimens being submitted to Mr. Yarrell’s inspection, he pronounced them to be examples of F’. cyaneus in various stages. A specimen of a young bird was also obtained, on the first Expedition, at York Factory, and is noticed by Mr. Sabine, in the Appendix to the Narrative of the Expedition, under the name of Falco uliginosus.—R. The relative proportions of the quill feathers, by which our accurate countryman, Montagu, detected the difference between the European Czrcus cyaneus and cine- raceus, is, perhaps, one of the best distinctions characterizing these species. It still, however, remains to be ascertained whether all those Harriers found in Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, agreeing with cyaneus in the structure of their wings, are to be considered the same species; or, rather, may we not suspect that a more intimate knowledge of the birds from such distant localities will ac- quaint us with specific distinctions? ‘The relative lengths of the quill feathers exercise, as is well known, a powerful influence on the mode and velocity of flight, and has been successfully employed to designate natural groups. But in species standing at the confines of their type, this character, in common with all others, must be looked upon cautiously, even when employed as a specific distinc- tion. Now, the typical structure of the wing in the present group must unques- tionably be that most prevalent among the species. It must, however, be remem- bered, that even this character is subject to variation, according to the age and perhaps the locality of the bird, and that it must not be insisted upon with too much rigour. , I 58 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. A finely-plumaged male bird of Falco cyaneus (L’Oiseau St. Martin), in the Paris Museum, had the proportions of the quills as follows: first equal to the seventh ; the second half an inch shorter than the fifth ; the third a slight degree shorter than the fourth ; which was the longest of all. The under plumage was pure white, the tail hardly rounded, and the two middle feathers slightly shorter than the rest. The two most adult of our male specimens (Nos. 1 and 3) very closely agree in these dimensions, except, indeed, that the difference between the third and fourth quill feathers is not very apparent ; but we cannot, on this account alone, consider them identical, for precisely the same characters are equally appa- rent in the Circus histrionicus of Quoy and Gaimard (Busard bariole, Mus. Par.), a bird somewhat smaller, and barred beneath with rufous, but in general dispo- sition of colours, and length of wings and tail, closely resembling C. cyaneus. On the supposition that the whole of our specimens belong to one species, (a fact, however, which cannot be proved,) we shall now give the relative lengths of the quill feathers in what appears a young male (No. 7). First quill feather inter- mediate in length between the sixth and seventh ; second equal to the fifth ; third equal to the fourth, which are the longest. It thus appears that even in characters ‘upon which we may generally place some reliance, individuals of the same species will materially differ. European specimens in the French Museum of Circus cyaneus exhibit the third and fourth quills equal ; and this is also apparent in some of those collected in America. We must, however, notice a specimen which pre- sents a considerable deviation from the rest; it is a Bear Lake specimen (No. 8), killed in the autumn, and exhibits a general resemblance to the other two procured there, but the colours of its plumage, deep liver-brown above and rust-coloured below, are considerably darker. Its sex was not ascertained, but it was probably a female, the other two being males ; and it may have been a yearling bird, not above three months old, while the others, having been killed in May, must have been birds at least as old as the preceding season. In it the second quill feather is a very little shorter than the fifth, and an inch and three-quarters longer than the sixth: the relative lengths of the other feathers correspond with No. 7, above mentioned. No great stress can be laid on the difference exhibited by this speci- men in the clearness and brightness of its colours, for this is generally a mere indication of youth. In most of the Falconid@ that are variegated, either with brown or rufous, the colours are most intense in youth, and gradually become paler or disappear with advanced age ; but the total absence of the festoon or obsolete tooth, in the upper mandible of this bird, is somewhat remarkable. We know not of any instance that would lead us to believe this deficiency to be the mere ee FALCONIDE. 59 effect of age, and it seems extraordinary that a structure so apparently essential should not be developed at the time nature intends the bird should seek its own sustenance. It has, indeed, been observed that the bill of the Falco Islandicus is sometimes destitute of a notch; and although we have attempted to account for this variation, still it is by no means certain that this may not indicate a difference of species. That there is some ground for this supposition, it may be as well to mention that, although the difference between C. cyaneus and cine- raceus may be very well drawn from the structure of the wings, yet that a more important distinction between them has been overlooked. In cyaneus, the festoon of the upper mandible is fully developed, and distinctly apparent, during every age of the bird, whether male or female ; while in C. cineraceus this festoon is abso- lutely wanting in every specimen we have examined, in all of which the commissure of the bill perfectly resembles that of the bird before us (No. 8). Nevertheless, from the following differences in the structure of their respective wings, we do not feel justified in considering them as of the same species :— Falco cineraceus, a perfect adult bird, in the Bird No. 8, above mentioned. Paris Museum (Busard Montagu). First quill feather, equal to the sixth ; First, intermediate between the sixth and seventh ; Second, in the least degree longer than the Second, half an inch shorter than the fifth ; fourth ; Third, the longest ; Third and fourth, equal and longest ; Fifth, intermediate in length between the first Fifth, a very little longer than the second. and second. To illustrate further the variation in the wings of the young and adult birds of this group, the following measurements were taken from a male bird of the first year (avant la premiere mue), belonging to C. cineraceus, and now in the Paris Museum. First quill feather intermediate between the sixth and seventh; second equal to the fifth; third shorter than the fourth, which is the longest. The colours of this specimen assimilate very closely to our bird (No. 8), and tend to show that the latter is a bird of the first year. Like ours, it is almost entirely of a bright rufous beneath, without any other indications of those stripes, which are afterwards appa- rent, than a dark line down the shaft of each feather. Adult specimens of cineraceus, brought from India by M. Sonnerat, exhibit the following variations: Male. First quill much shorter than the sixth, but inter- mediate between the sixth and seventh ; second rather shorter than the fourth ; third the longest ; fourth longer than the second. Female. First quill feather 12 60 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. equal to the sixth; second equal to the fourth. Upon the whole it appears that specific distinctions among these birds, when drawn from the proportions of all the quill feathers, unsupported by other considerations, are liable to much objection, since we see that these characters vary in birds obviously of the same species, while others, perfectly distinct, agree in this particular. The Egyptian Circus gallinarius of Savigny (which, by a note of M. Temminck’s, attached to the speci- mens in the Paris Museum, he seems to confound with the European species) has, nevertheless, all the indications of being distinct : the membrane between the toes is particularly small. There is a black variety of C. cineraceus (a specimen of which was shot near Chartres by M. Marchand, and is described in the Bull. des Sciences, iii., pl. 12, f. 1.), which must not, however, be confounded with another species, from Southern Africa, having the plumage black and the tail barred with white. We have considered it better to offer these general observations to the reader, rather than to hazard any direct opinion on the birds before us. The whole of the Harriers appear very imperfectly known ; and nothing short of an actual ac- quaintance with the birds in a state of nature, or a perfect series of specimens of different ages, will solve the doubts that now impede their clear investigation. —Sw. DESCRIPTION Of (No. 3.) a mature male, killed on the plains of the Saskatchewan, May 17, 1827. Cotour of the dorsal aspect of the head, neck, and lesser wing coverts, bluish-grey, with darker shafts. ‘The back, scapularies, and tertiaries, have a deeper hue, verging to greyish or broccoli brown. There is a patch on the nape of the neck composed of feathers having white bases, brown centres, and ferruginous borders, all of which colours are partially seen. The quill feathers and greater coverts are blackish-brown towards their points, bluish-grey towards the base of the exterior webs, and white, barred or spotted with brown, on the interior ones. Some of the primaries and secondaries are tipped with white. The tail coverts are pure white, forming a bar across the base of the tail an inch and a half wide. The two middle tail feathers are bluish-grey, tinged with brown, bordered at the tip with soiled white, and crossed by five blackish-brown bars, of which the terminal one is half an inch broad; the others are very narrow and faint. The outer tail feather is brownish-grey exteriorly and at the tip, and its inner web is white, with five narrow brown bars. The other feathers exhibit more grey and less white the nearer they are to the middle of the tail, and have the brown bars extending to both webs. Under surface-——The cheeks and auriculars are ash-grey, with a paler border to the orbit. The short feathers composing the semicircle behind the auriculars are tipped with the colour of the crown of the head; but they have dark shafts and some pale yellowish-brown mottlings towards their bases, which partially appear: in their texture they contrast strongly with the more wiry auriculars. The under surface of the neck is slate-grey. The breast is FALCONIDE. 61 | white, with a small rhomboidal cinereous mark in the centre of each feather. The belly and thighs are white, with some minute scattered grey specks. The vent feathers are spotless ; but the under tail coverts have arrow-headed spots larger than those on the belly. The tail beneath is pale ash-grey with a slight tinge of buff, and is less distinctly barred than its upper surface. The linings of the wings are pure white, with the exception of two or three brownish- grey bars on the secondary coverts. Form, &c.—The Dill is small, much compressed, with a narrow ridge and a rather small hook. The curve of the ridge is flatly elliptical until near the point, when it terminates in the small arc of a circle. The cutting margin of the upper mandible is distinctly lobed. The cere covers more than one-third of the ridge of the bill, and, in conjunction with the lores, is clothed laterally with a short down, over which there is a layer of stiff, bristly black hairs, disposed in a stelliform manner, their ends curving up and meeting with their fellows on the ridge of the bill, so as to conceal the nostrils. The nostrils are broadly oval and longitudinal. The lower mandible is rounded at the end. The folded wings are rather more than two inches short of the end of the tail. The fourth quill feather is the longest ; the third is scarcely a line shorter ; the fifth is about half an inch shorter than the fourth ; the second a quarter of an inch shorter than the fifth; the sixth two inches shorter than the latter ; and the first is a little longer than the seventh, which is more than an inch shorter than the sixth: the three following ones diminish successively half an inch each. The webs of the primaries are com- paratively narrow at their points, and they are not so broad near the quills as those of the Buzzards, described in the preceding pages, nor so abruptly sinuated on their inner webs. The second to the fifth inclusive have distinct sinuations on their outer webs ; and the first to the fourth inclusive are obliquely sinuated on their inner ones. The tail is long and slightly rounded, the outer feathers being scarcely half an inch shorter than the middle ones. The webs of the plumage covering the belly are much more decomposed than in the typical Buz- zards. The thighs and tarsi are long and slender. The outer thigh feathers reach about half way down the tarsus, and the latter is clothed anteriorly with short feathers for nearly three- quarters of an inch. The rest of the tarsus is covered before and behind with large transverse scales, and it is very little increased in thickness at its junction with the toes. The foes are slender and moderately long: the middle one is the longest ; the outer one is longer than the inner one; and the hind one is the shortest, being only about half as long as the middle one. There is a web between the bases of the middle and outer toes. The claws are very acute, and are grooved beneath: the hind one is the longest and the outer one the smallest, but there is no marked disproportion amongst them. The middle one has a sharp inner margin. Dimensions Of the male No. 3. Inches. _—Lines, Inches. _ Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end Length of the bill along its ridge 0 of the tail : C C < - 20 9 » of the tarsus . 2 10 > of thetail . . . oO Soy 3 55 of the middle toe 6 ait | 3 55 of the longest quill feather 5 38) 0 5 of itsclaw, inastraight line . 0 7 0 9 » of the bill from the angle of the >», Ofthehindclaw ,, mouth . ; c c 5 1 3 62 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. No. 5, a male, killed at Cumberland House in the same month, corresponds exactly with the preceding in colour of the plumage, form of the bill, the relative lengths of the quill feathers, &c., except that the inner wing coverts are totally white, without bars, and the spots on the under surface of the body are much smaller. No. 1, a male, killed at Carlton a fortnight earlier than Nos. 3 and 5, differs from them in having central yellowish-brown oval marks on the breast feathers, some pretty large brown bars on the flanks and under tail coverts, many arrow- shaped spots on the thighs, and dark cinereous heart-shaped marks on the linings of the wings. The upper plumage had a browner tinge, and the tail is darker, with five more complete blackish-brown bars. The lobe of the upper mandible is equally distinct as in the other two specimens, and, with the very slight exception of the first quill feather being merely equal to the seventh, instead of exceeding it, the wings have a similar structure. DESCRIPTION Of (No. 2.) a female, in full plumage, killed at the nest, May 14, 1827. Cotour of the whole dorsal aspect liver-brown; the feathers of the crown of the head, upper part of the neck, and lesser wing coverts, together with some of the scapularies, are edged with pale yellowish-brown. There are also some narrow chestnut-brown edges on the rump feathers; but the rest of the upper plumage, including the quill feathers and greater coverts, are unmixed liver-brown: the tips of the secondaries and primary coverts are edged with soiled white. The tail coverts are white. The ¢ail is crossed by six bars of liver-brown, of which the subterminal one is the broadest : its tip is soiled white. On the four middle feathers the bars are separated by a paler colour, approaching to clove-brown ; on the more exterior feathers the spaces between the bars on the inner webs are pale yellowish-brown. Under surface. The cheeks are more ferruginous than the crown of the head, and the fea- thers of the facial semicircle are mostly edged with brownish-white. The under surface of the neck is liver-brown, with white and yellowish-brown edgings. The belly, under tail coverts, and posterior part of the wing linings, are pale yellowish-brown, with conspicuous chestnut- coloured elliptical spots. The remainder of the linings of the wings are faint straw-yellow, blotched with dark clove-brown. The under surfaces of the quill and tail feathers are barred with clove-brown, the intermediate spaces being yellowish-white, gradually changing to brownish-grey. Form.—The lobe on the cutting margin of the upper mandible is well marked. The third quill feather is equal to the fourth; the fifth is half an inch shorter; the second is an inch shorter than the third; the sixth is two inches and a half shorter than the fifth; and the first and seventh are an inch shorter than the sixth. The toes are scutellated above to their bases, and the inner edge of the middle claw is very acute, the groove producing it being very distinct. FALCONIDA. 63 Dimensions Of the female No. 2. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill along the tase . 5 13 the tail : Q : - 22 6 >, of the tarsus . . G 3 4 >, Of the tail : - 10 3 >, Of the middle toe : 6 q il 6 5, of the longest quill featlers op uel 6 Another female (No. 4), killed on the plains of the Saskatchewan in the beginning of June, corresponded in every point with the preceding. DESCRIPTION Of (No. 6.) a young male (supposed to be of the preceding season), killed at Great Bear Lake, lat. 65°, May 31, 1826. Cotour of the dorsal aspect liver-brown. The feathers of the head are narrowly edged with deep orange-brown, and there is a whitish border to the orbit, most conspicuous behind. The facial circles meet on the nape of the neck, and the feathers composing them have liver-brown centres and tips, lateral margins of pale wood-brown, and white bases. The feathers of the neck have mostly yellowish-brown edges. The back is of an uniform liver-brown, with a pale yellowish-brown spot on one or two of the scapularies. The lesser wing coverts have mar- ginal ferruginous blotches, and the greater coverts and secondaries are narrowly tipped with white. The primaries are crossed by from seven to nine liver-brown bars, the intermediate spaces towards the tips being merely a lighter shade of the same colour, but towards the bases of the inner webs being white or pale wood-brown. The white tail coverts form a narrow bar across the base of the tail. The tail is crossed by five bars of liver-brown, the terminal one being the broadest, the intermediate spaces, which equal the bars in breadth, are hair-brown on the two middle feathers, and pale ferruginous on the others ; and all the feathers are narrowly edged on their tips with white. The wnder surface of the neck is ferruginous, with tapering longitudinal streaks of liver-brown ; the breast is paler, and the streaks are confined to the shafts. The flanks are dark orange-brown, with paler edgings. The posterior part of the belly and vent are very pale ferruginous, without spots ; and the under tail coverts and thighs have a deeper ferruginous tint, also without spots, The under surface of the tail is very pale buff, with liver-brown bars. The linings of the wings have a slight ferruginous tinge, with dark-brown blotches. The inner surfaces of all the quill feathers are white, slightly tinged in a few places with brown, crossed by narrow clove-brown bars, and becoming entirely brown at their tips. Form, &c.—The lobe of the upper mandible is not quite so distinct as in the older speci- mens described above. The third quill feather equals the fourth; the second and fifth are an inch shorter ; the sixth is two inches shorter than the fifth; and the first is about a quarter of an inch shorter than the sixth, and as much longer than the seventh. The tarsi corre- spond with those of the older birds, even to the number of scutelli (fifteen before and nineteen behind, besides a reticulated portion adjoining to the upper joint behind). 64 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. Dimensions Of the young bird No. 6. Inches. Lines, Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail 5, of the tarsus c : . 6 ° ¢ 3 0 >, Of the middle toe . 3 : " ° Peale | 3 No. 7, another young male, killed a few days earlier at the same place, scarcely differs a shade in the colour of its plumage, and corresponds minutely with the preceding in form. The plumage of both is considerably worn. DESCRIPTION Of (No. 8.) a yearling female 2 killed, in the end of September, at Great Bear Lake, a few days before the departure of all the migratory Falcons to the southward. Corour of the dorsal aspect considerably deeper than in the preceding young male, being intermediate between umber and blackish browns, and it has a strong bronze reflection. The narrow edgings of the feathers of the crown, and the broader ones of the neck and wing coverts, are deep shining orange-brown. The quill feathers and their coverts are blackish- brown ; the upper halves of their inner webs are white and wood-brown, with three cross bars of dark-brown. The tail coverts are white, edged with pale yellowish-brown. The two middle tail feathers have five brownish-black bars, alternating with clove-brown. On the other tail feathers the bars are separated by reddish-orange spaces. The under plumage presents gene- rally a deeper orange-coloured brown than the young male above described. Form, &c.—The bill differs from all the other seven specimens in its cutting margin being almost straight, with scarcely an indication of the lobe. The tail is more rounded, from the perfect state of the individual feathers. The tarsus has fourteen scutelli anteriorly; but its upper half posteriorly is reticulated by smaller scales. The third quill feather is the longest ; the fourth is scarcely perceptibly shorter; the second and fifth are about an inch shorter; the sixth is two inches shorter than the fifth; and the first is exactly intermediate between the sixth and seventh. The whole plumage is in high order; all the feathers rounded at the tips and soft on the edges. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Length7from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail e 20 >, Of the tarsus : ° 7 ° ° ° 3 2 >, Of the middle toe . . S ° ° 5 il 4 On Sir John Franklin’s first Expedition I killed a specimen on the shores of Hudson’s Bay (lat. 57°), on the 23rd of August, which very nearly resembles the preceding, but, being less spotted, is probably an older female. It corresponds exactly with Wilson’s figure of the female Marsh Hawk (F’. uliginosus), to which Mr. Sabine referred it. This gentleman makes the following observations upon FALCONIDE. 65 it: “* On comparison of the specimen of the Marsh Hawk with that of the Ring- tail now before us, the differences are strikingly obvious. The ferruginous colour of the under parts of the Marsh Hawk bring it nearer to some states of the Ash- coloured Falcon of Montagu ; but in this case also the different colour of the male forms an obstacle to their identity *.”” I subjoin a brief description of that speci- men, taken when it was recently killed. DESCRIPTION Of a young female, killed at York Factory, August 23, 1821. Cotour of the bill bluish-black; cere and tarsi bright-yellow. Plumage of the head and neck brownish-black, with ferruginous edgings, which are broader on the under sur- face of the neck and narrower on the crown. ‘The back, scapularies, and wings, are very dark liver-brown, the lesser coverts being edged with ferruginous. The inner vanes of the quill feathers are broadly barred with buff-orange. The tail coverts are white. The two middle tail feathers are coloured, like the back, with obscure bars; the others are barred alternately with that colour and ferruginous, and they are all tipped with a soiled brownish- white. The whole ventral aspect of the body, the linings of the wings, the under tail coverts, and the thigh feathers, are of an uniform -unspotted ferruginous colour. The inner surfaces of the quill feathers are tinged with buff-yellow, and crossed by irregular bars of blackish- brown and lead-grey. Form.—Cutting margin of the upper mandible slightly lobed. The fourth quill feather is the longest. The tail is long and rather square. When the gullet is distended, a large naked space appears on each side of the neck, as in the Owls. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail (before it was skinned) 19 6 Extent from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other . ; : - 36 0 Length of the tail : : - . . 6 . é Pe =i tarsus ¢ : . . . ° ° 5 : 3 From the shortness of the descriptions given by the older writers of their species, and their neglect of attention to structure, it has now become almost impossible to ascertain what were the birds they alluded to; and we have, therefore, confined ourselves entirely, in our account of the Falconde, to those of which we have actually seen specimens from the fur-countries. The Prince of Musignano, the latest writer on American ornithology, enumerates seventeen species of this family in his Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, published in 1826 ; to which he has added an eighteenth in his Continuation of Wilson’s Ornithology. Of these, eleven are described in this work as natives of the fur-countries, together with * When this passage was written, Mr. Sabine was not‘aware that the mature male of a bluish-grey colour had been seen in America, and therefore concluded that the Marsh Hawk was a species peculiar to that continent. K 66 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. va three others, which do not enter into his list; viz. Falco Islandicus, F. asalon, and Buteo vulgaris ; making in all fourteen northern species. Of the remaining seven * of his list, four +, being inhabitants of the warmer parts only of the United States, do not require any notice from us ; but the other three (Accipiter Cooperit, Buteo Sancti Johannis, and Buteo hyemalis) are said to be northern birds, although we were not fortunate enough to procure specimens of them. We shall, on this account, content ourselves with merely giving the short characters assigned to them by the writer just mentioned. “ Accipiter Cooperiit. Upper plumage chocolate-brown, margined with rufous ; tail ashy-brown, with four black bands ; flag feathers crossed by five or six blackish bands ; under plumage whitish, with a dusky medial stripe. Cere greenish-yellow; irides and feet bright-yellow. Young male? Winters in New Jersey.” ““ Buteo Sancti Johannis, black; white round the eye; tail rounded, with narrow bands of pure white, and tipped with dull-white. Young, varied with white, brown, and ferruginous. Winters in Pennsylvania. Rare.”’ “* Buteo hyemalis. No collar round the face ; wings, when closed, reaching but little beyond the middle of the tail. Common in Pennsylvania all the winter.” Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, enumerates twenty-nine Falconde as inha- bitants of North America :— No. 86. Sea Eagle. No. 102. Red-shouldered F. 87. Black Eagle. H.B. 103. Buzzard F. 88. Black-cheeked Eagle. 104. Plain F. 90. White Eagle. 105. Marsh F. 91. Osprey. 106. Ring-tail F. HB. 92. Rough-legged Falcon. 107. Winter F. 93. St. John’s F. H.B. 108. Swallow-tailed F. 94. Chocolate-coloured F. H.B. 109. Buzzardet. 95. Newfoundland F. 110. Little F. 96. Sacre F. H.B. 111. Pigeon F. HB. 97. Peregrine F. H.B. 112. Dubious F. 98. Gentil F. 113. Dusky F. 99. Goshawk. Suppl. Streaked F. H.B. 100. Red-tailed F. 101. Leverian F. » Golden Eagle. Those with the letters H.B. affixed are expressly stated to be inhabitants of Hudson’s Bay. * Audubon has published a figure of Astur Stanleii, which is rather a small species, but the letter-press of his work not being yet before the public, we do not know its range or its characters. + Falco plumbeus, F. melanopterus, F. furcatus, and F. Pennsylvanicus. FALCONIDA, — 67 The following list, extracted from Laruam’s Index Ornithologicus, contains the species said by that author to be inhabitants of North America :— Sp. 3. Falco melaneétus. Sp. 61. Falco obsoletus. 4, ,, fulvus. 65. ,, palumbarius. 5. ,, leucocephalus. 66.4; . gentilis- 7. 4, ossifragus. 69. ,, Islandicus. 8. ,, leucogaster. 72. 4, peregrinus. 12. ,, Americanus. 74. ,, Sancti Johannis. Wie = candidus: 7). 5, _-sacer. 30. ,, halizétus. 76. ,, Nove terre. 31. ,, Leverianus. 78. 4, hyemalis. 33. ,, lagopus. 94. ,, cyaneus, 6. Ale se turcatus: 95. ,, uliginosus. 47. ,, buteo, var. 6. 99. ,, — sparverius. 48. ,, variegatus. 1035) j0)..tuscus: AG aa borealis: 104. ,, dubius. Sv. ,, spadiceus: 105. ,, obscurus. 58. ,, lineatus. 106. = ,, columbarius. oo, 3, rusticolus: Suppl. ,, hyemalis, var. Tue subjoined wood-cuts are intended to illustrate the forms of the bills in some of the genera of the Falconide. FALCO ASALON. The bill of the Merlin, here represented, is short, strong, wide at the base, and gradually becoming more and more compressed towards its tip, which forms an acute hook, that curves down over the end of the lower mandible. The curve of the ridge from the cere to the tip is about the quadrant of a circle, having nearly the third of an inch radius. The ridge of the K 2 68 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. cere is scarcely a continuation of the same arc, being more depressed ; but it is too short to give a decidedly elliptical form to the curve of the bill. There is a conspicuous angular tooth on the cutting margin of the mandible near the tip, and posterior to it the margin is slightly waved, This peculiarity, seen in no other genus, constitutes the typical perfection of the whole family. The nostrils, small and perfectly round, open directly inwards, and have a central column. The anterior margin of the cere runs backwards on the side of the bill, towards the angle of the mouth, considerably past the nostrils, before it approaches the cutting margin of the mandible. The short hairlike feathers which clothe it laterally do not conceal the nostrils. ACCIPITER (ASTUR) PALUMBARIUS. The bill of the Goshawk is more compressed and flatter on the sides than that of the Merlin or true Falcons. The curve of its ridge, from the cere to the tip, is somewhat less than a quadrant of a circle of three-quarters of an inch radius. The length of the cere is proportion- ably greater than in the Merlin, and it is not so much arched ; in consequence of which, the whole ridge has a more elliptical curve. The cutting margin of the mandible has an obtuse lobe opposite the nostrils, but wants the acute tooth of the true Falcons, near the point of the bill. The lower mandible has entire margins, and is rounded at its tip—not truncated, as in the Falcons. The nostrils are large, nearly round, have no central column, open obliquely forwards close to the margin of the cere, and are mostly covered by the wiry feathers of the cere. FALCONID, 69 BUTEO VULGARIS. SE In the Common Buzzard the bill has a more lengthened form and is equally compressed towards its tip, as in the Goshawk ; but it is more swelled out at the base, where it is covered by cere. It is weaker; the depth from the ridge to the cutting margin at the nostrils being considerably less than in the latter bird ; in consequence of which, the hooked point is longer. There is a conspicuous obtuse lobe on the cutting margin anterior to the nostrils. The lower mandible is worn on its margin opposite this lobe, and is obliquely truncated at its end. The nostrils, smaller and with more membranous margins than in the Goshawk, open obliquely downwards, and have no central pillar. The anterior margin of the cere runs down to the margin of the mandible opposite the nostrils. BUTEO LAGOPUS. J PE ——— SSS S22 The curve of the ridge of the bill of the Rough-legged Falcon is equal to that of the Gos- hawk, and its cere is still shorter; but the depth of the upper mandible at the nostrils is con- siderably less, and it is destitute of a marginal lobe ; the rictus being almost quite straight from the angle of the mouth to the sudden curve of the hooked tip. The nostrils are large, roundish, and open obliquely forwards close to the margin of the cere. They are partially covered by black hairs, proceeding from among the close white down which clothes the space between the orbit and nostrils. The crown of the head is more convex than that of the Goshawk or Common Buzzard. a 10 . NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. BUTEO (CIRCUS) CYANEUS.* Specimen No.2. Female. (Vide p. 62.) In this mature female Hen-Harrier the bill is more compressed and flattened on the sides, particularly posteriorly, than in any of those figured above, although its ridge is proportionably more rounded. The cere covers a greater portion of the ridge than in the preceding; but its anterior margin curves back beneath the nostrils, and runs nearly to the angle of the mouth, before it is lost on the cutting margin of the mandible. The depth of the upper mandible at the nostrils is about equal to that of the Common Buzzard ; and there is a small, but distinct lobe on the margin of the mandible a little anterior to the nostrils. The nostrils, oval and longitudinal, open obliquely forwards, extend close to the margin of the cere, and are nearly concealed by the black hairs which spring from the lores. ‘The lower mandible is rounded at its tip, and its margins are more incurved than in the preceding Falcons. BUTEO (CIRCUS) CYANEUS. Specimen No. 8. Young female. (Vide p. 64.) SSS — OSS Ni INNS \ = ine SS == AAR SSS The bill of this specimen is destitute of a lobe on the cutting margin of the upper mandible. (Vide pp. 58 and 59.) * Since the preceding pages were sent to the press, I have had an opportunity, through the kindness of Mr. Yarrell, of comparing the eggs of the English Hen-Harrier with those taken from the nest of the Harrier on the plains of the Saskatchewan, as mentioned in p. 55. The latter, which measure exactly 1'81 inch. in length, are two-tenths of an inch longer than the English ones. STRIGIDA. 7 STRIGIDA.—OWLS. Ir our imperfect knowledge of the groups among the Falconide debars us from the power of discriminating the genera from the sub-genera, and even prevents us from understanding the properties of the primary groups, still more deficient are we in those data upon which, as we conceive, an insight into the natural arrange- ment of the Strigide may be acquired. Asa whole, they present an assemblage of birds as united among themselves as they are distinct from all others. There is, we believe, no one species yet discovered which even a common observer would not immediately pronounce to be an Owl, or would be in danger of confounding either with a Hawk or Goatsucker, the only two groups to which the Strigidze are related in immediate affinity. Yet, although this relationship is too obvious to be doubted, it must be confessed that a considerable hiatus intervenes between both. Whether these will be lessened by future discoveries, or whether the Owls, like the Parrots, are in some degree an isolated group, whose aberrant forms no longer exist, are points which may always remain in obscurity. To state our objections against the attempts that have been made to arrange the modern genera of Strigidze in a circular series, without at the same time offer- ing a disposition more agreeable to nature, would be useless. It is obvious that, until the first principles of their affinities have been studied, we shall be building without a foundation. The extraordinary development and construc- tion of the ear, by which the Owls are so strikingly distinguished from all other birds, is clearly that feature to which we should first direct our attention ; and a correct knowledge of this organ, in its variations of structure through the sub- ordinate groups, should precede all attempts at general combination. How much this has been neglected is well known. ‘‘ We cannot sufficiently regret,”’ observes the able continuator of Wilson, “ that authors should be so unanimous in neglecting this important character of the ears in Owls.” (Bon., Syn., p. 436.) With this acknowledged fact before us, with the insignificant number of species for consultation to be found in our museums, and with the artificial combinations that have resulted from relying upon books and prints, rather than upon personal observation, we consider all attempts to combine the modern groups among the Strigidz into a circular series, as somewhat speculative, and certainly not war- ranted by any evidence that has yet been brought forward on the subject.—Sw. 72 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [18.] 1. Srrix otrus. (Linn.) Long-eared Owl. Genus. Strix. Linn. Sub-genus. Asio. ANTIQ. Long-eared Owl. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 229, sp. 115. Strix otus. Laru. Jnd., i., p. 58. Long-eared Owl. (Strix otus.) Wutson. Orn., vi., p. 73, pl. 51, f. 3. Strix otus. TEmmM., i, p. 102. SExLBy. Brit. Orn., 8vo., p.52. Bonar. Syn., p. 37, No. 28. CuvirER, Reg. An., Second edit., i., p. 341. Ammisk-oho. (Beaver-Owl.) Cree Inpians. This bird, whichis an inhabitant of both hemispheres, has been found in America as far north as latitude 60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend. It is plentiful in the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the coast of Hudson’s Bay only in the summer, and retires into the interior in the winter. It resides all the year in the United States, and perhaps is not a rare bird in any part of North America ; but, as it comes seldom abroad in the day, fewer specimens are obtained of it than of the other Owls. It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus arvicola, and in summer destroys many beetles. It lays three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the deserted nests of other birds in low bushes. Mr. Hutchins says it lays in April, and that the young fly in May. The Indians brought me a specimen, killed at the nest, which was in a bush, and contained one egg, in May; and Mr. Drum- mond found a nest on the ground, in the same neighbourhood, containing three egos, on the 5th of July, and killed both the birds. Wilson says that the young are greyish-white until nearly full grown, and roost during the day close together on the limb of a tree, amid the thickest of the foliage. On comparing the above- mentioned eggs with those of the English Long-eared Owl, the American ones proved to be smaller, measuring only an inch and a half in Jength and 1°27 inch. in breadth ; while the English ones measured 1°8 inch. in length, and 1°54 in breadth. The form and colour were the same in both. DESCRIPTION Of a male, killed at Carlton House, 5th July, 1827. Cotour.—Bill and claws bluish-black. Jrides reddish-orange. The wiry feathers at the base of the bill, forming part of the facial circle, are greyish-white, with black shafts and tips; the pos- terior broader half of the circle covering the operculum of the concha is dull yellowish-brown, STRIGIDE. we margined or bounded posteriorly with blackish-brown : the interior of the circle, forming the immediate border of the orbit, is blackish, The belt of velvety feathers on the posterior border of the concha, and which meets with its fellow on the throat, is dark umber-brown, finely mottled with white. The egrets are liver-brown, the interior margins of the feathers mottled with white. On the dorsal aspect the ground colour is dark liver-brown; which on the forehead and crown is finely speckled with white; on the neck the dark-brown occupies the centre of each feather, and the margins are pale yellowish-brown, with indented white spots, that are finely dotted with dark-brown, The back, scapularies, tertiaries, and greater part of the lesser wing coverts, have the brown ground crossed by bars of white, which again include indented bars of brown, the resulting general effect being a fine mottling. A band passes along the upper margin of the wing, on which there are no white spots ; but the dark- brown is sparingly dotted with yellowish-brown. The quill feathers are liver-brown, crossed by seven bands of yellowish-brown, more or less mottled with white. The fail is crossed by about eight pale yellowish-brown or whitish bars, finely mixed with dark-brown, and alternating with as many liver-brown bars. Under surface.—On the neck and breast the feathers are liver-brown in their centres and white or yellowish-brown on their margins, producing an assemblage of large spots. On the belly they are white, crossed by narrow distinct liver-brown bars. The plumage of the whole ventral aspect, as well as of the dorsal, is yellowish-brown at the base, which partially. shows. The linings of the wings are white, tinged with yellowish-brown and marked with some dark-brown blotches. The insides of the primaries are clove-brown, with large buff- coloured bases and blotches opposite to the pale bars on the exterior surfaces, The under surface of the tail is buff-coloured towards the base and greyish towards the ‘point, and is crossed by eight or nine narrow brown bars. The long outer thigh feathers are deep yellowish- brown, with a few liver-brown bars on their tips. The legs and feet are unspotted yellowish- brown. Form, &c.—The Dill, having a flat elliptical curvature, is covered with cere on the ridge about half its length. Nostrils oval, oblique. Facial circle moderately large. Concha extending from above the posterior angle of the orbit to behind the limb of the lower jaw, being about an inch and a quarter long, with a moderately broad operculum of corresponding length. Egrets an inch and a half long, very conspicuous, composed of six or more feathers. Folded wings very little shorter than the tail. The second quill feather is the longest, the third is scarcely shorter; the first rather exceeds the fourth, and both are an inch shorter than the second ; the remaining ones diminish each in succession from three-quarters to half an inch. The inner web of the first primary is strongly sinuated near the point, and the outer web of the second is more obliquely narrowed higher up. The outer web of the first and that of the second below the sinuation have the points of the barbs strongly reverted : this is not the case with the third, as itisin Strix Virginiana. Tail very slightly rounded, the outer feathers being only a quarter of an inch shorter than the central ones. Tarsi closely covered with mode- rately long feathers ; and the upper surface of the toes clothed by shorter feathers, which do L 74 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. not reach beyond the roots of the nails, where two or three scales are exposed. The middle nail is the longest, the first nearly equals it; both are grooved beneath, and the former has a sharp inner edge. The hind and outer nails are rounded beneath: none of them are much curved. Dimensions Of the male. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end Length of the bill from the angle of the mouth of the tail ° 3 3 C els 0 in a straight line 1 3 5, of the tail : A 2 : 6 6 >> of the tarsus 1 4 5, of the longest quill feather . Balt 0 5, of the middle toe 1 2 » ofthe billontheridge . 4 1 3 » of the middle nail 0 9 The female, which was killed in company with the above, was scarcely of larger dimensions, and differed only slightly in the parts tinged with yellowish-brown, having a more intense colour. The facial circle was rather browner. Another female, killed six weeks earlier in the season, was precisely similar. The setaceous feathers at the base of the bill are represented as very few in this cut of the head of the Long eared Owl, in order to exhibit the cere and nostrils, and a correct outline of the bill. STRIGIDA. 25) [19.] 2. Srrix BracHyoTa. (Latham.) Shoré-cared Owl. Genus. Strix. Linn. Sudb-genus. Asio. ANTIQ. Strix brachyotos. ForstEr. Phil. Trans., |xii., p. 384, No. 2. Short-eared Owl. Latu. Syn.,i., p. 124, sp.9. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 229, sp. 116. Witson, iv., p. 64, pl. 33, f.3. Male. Strix brachyotos. TEmm., i, p. 93. Sersy. Brit. Orn., 8vo., p. 54. Bonar. Syn, p. 37, No. 29. Tho-thos-cau-sew. CREE Inp1Ians. (Hutchins.) This Owl is common to both continents, and is very generally diffused in the temperate and colder regions. It is a summer visitor to the fur-countries, arriving as soon as the snow disappears, and departing again in September. We observed it as far north as latitude 67°; and a female, killed at Fort Franklin on the 20th of May, contained several pretty large eggs nearly ready for exclusion. It is found in the winter as far south as Pennsylvania; in summer is by no means rare in the fur-countries, and, as it hunts frequently for its prey in the daytime, is often seen. Its principal haunts are dense thickets of young pine-trees, or dark and entangled willow clumps, where it sits on a low branch, watching assiduously for mice. When disturbed, it flies low for a short distance, and then hides itself in the heart of a bush, from whence it is not easily driven. Its nest, formed of withered grass and moss, is placed on a dry spot of ground; and, according to Mr. Hutchins, it lays ten or twelve small, round, white eggs. ‘This is a very unusual number for a bird of prey to lay; but a fact, mentioned by Bewick, that twenty-eight individuals of this species have been counted together in a turnip-field, seems to be equally extra- ordinary. Perhaps it migrates partially in Europe as well as in America, and assembles in flocks previous to leaving its breeding-places.—R. If we are to consider, with M. Savigny, the S. flammea as the type of this family, we observe in the present species a much closer approximation to that form than to the typical Horned Owls. This is exhibited in the prolongation and slight curvature of the bill, in the size and direction of the nasal aperture, and in the more lengthened tarsi, but much more in the full facial disk, and the very great size of the operculated ears. The toes are but thinly feathered; and these feathers, assuming more the appearance of hairs, do not cover the base of the claws. The wings are ample, and extend to the end of the tail. The first quill is nearly as long as the third, and this alone is deeply emarginate on its inner web close to L2 70 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. the tip, as in the typical Falcons; the second quill is the longest, and is the only one slightly emarginate on its outer web. All these characters belong likewise to the Long-eared Owl, the only apparent variation being in the second and longest quill feather, which in the latter bird has a deep notch near its tip.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a female, killed at Fort Franklin, 20th May, 1826. Eggs fully formed were contained in the oviduct. Cotour of the facial circle at the base of the bill white, with a slight intermixture of black hairs; posteriorly it is dark blackish-brown close to the orbit, then yellowish-brown mixed with white, and lastly the tips of the soft velvety feathers behind the auditory opening exhibit a spotted mixture of dark umber and bright yellowish-brown, which colours extend across the throat immediately behind the lower jaw. The egrets are coloured like the adjoining plumage, and, being short, are scarcely visible. The plumage on the dorsal aspect is variegated by liver-brown and light yellowish-brown, the latter colour occupying the margins of the feathers. The primaries have a clear wood-brown colour, approaching to buff, crossed by two irregular bars of liver-brown, and also tipped for two inches with the same colour. The outer webs of the secondaries are liver-brown, crossed by five mottled bars of wood-brown ; their inner webs are of the latter colour, indented with processes of liver-brown proceeding from the shafts. The tail is crossed by six wood-brown bars, alternating with five liver-brown ones, its tip being of the former colour. Under surface of the neck coloured like the back, but the paler margins of the feathers are broader. The long feathers covering the sides of the belly are yellowish-brown, with narrow streaks of liver-brown on their shafts. The vent feathers, under tail coverts, and feathers of the thighs and feet, are yellowish-brown, without spots. The under surface of the tail is buff-coloured, with five narrow broccoli-brown bars. The linings of the wings are yellowish-brown, with blotches of dark-brown. Bill and claws black. Ivides bright gamboge- yellow. Form.—Bill elliptically curved from its base, the part covered with cere somewhat inflated; its point compressed with a very obtuse ridge. Nostrils oval, oblique. Facial circle of wiry feathers complete, but not large. Concha forming a semicircle, with a rather narrow operculum of corresponding length. ‘Tips of the folded wings falling about an inch and a half short of the end of the tail. The second primary is the longest; the third is a quarter of an inch, and the first half an inch shorter; the others diminish in succession about three-quarters of an inch each. The whole of the outer barbs of the first primary and those at the tip of the second have their points reverted. The outer web of the second primary and inner one of the first are sinuated. The feet are covered to the claws with short feathers. The claws taper con- siderably and are very sharp ; the middle one is the longest, the inner one is next to it in size, and the hind one is the smallest ; the latter and the outer one are rounded beneath, the two others are grooved, and the middle one has a very sharp inner edge. STRIX CINEREA. Juve ene London Prinked jor John Murray Bookseller to the Admivadty, Sannwy VGV8L29 P AT STRIGIDZ. Div ensions. Inches. _—_ Lines. he: Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the cere on its ridge ° po 8 the tail : - : F cee aly 0 >, ofthe tarsus . 6 F 4 1 6 5> of the tail ; C 2 sO 6 5, of the middle toe . C G03! 4 55 of the longest quill feather 5 al 6 >, of its claw : 0 q 6 0 11 of the bill measured on itsridge . 1 4 Another specimen, of the same size with the preceding, has more of the yellowish-brown colour in its plumage, and a bill two lines shorter, with a more tumid cere. A third, also of equal size, has a bill of an intermediate form between these two. [20. ] 3. STRIX CINEREA. (Gmelin.) Great Cinereous Owl. GeENus. Strix. Linn. Cinereous Owl. LatH. Syn.,i., p. 134, sp. 19. Sooty Owl. PENN. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 232, No. 120. Strix cinerea. GmEtIN. Syst. i, p. 291. Laru. Ind., i, p. 58, sp. 22. Strix fuliginosa. Suaw. Gen. Zool., i., p. 244. Strix cinerea. VIEILLOT. Enc. Méth., iii., 1289, No.43. IprM, Nouv, Dict., vii., p. 23. Atheeneetoo omeesew. (Real or Indian Owl.) CreE Inpians. PLATE XXxXI. This imposing bird, the largest of the North American Owls, was first described by Latham from a Hudson’s Bay specimen, deposited in the British Museum ; and some particulars respecting its habits, communicated to Pennant by Mr. Hutchins, were published in Arctic Zoology. It is by no means a rare bird in the fur-countries, being an inhabitant of all the woody districts lying between Lake Superior and latitudes 67° or 68°, and between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific. It is common on the borders of Great Bear Lake; and there and in the higher parallels of latitude it must pursue its prey, during the summer months, by day- light. It keeps, however, within the woods, and does not frequent the barren grounds, like the Snowy Owl, nor is it so often met with in broad daylight as the Hawk-Owl, but hunts principally when the sun is low ; indeed, it is only at such times, when the recesses of the woods are deeply shadowed, that the American hare and the murine animals, on which the Cinereous Owl chiefly preys, come forth 78 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. to feed. On the 23rd of May, I discovered a nest of this Owl, built on the top of a lofty balsam-poplar, of sticks, and lined with feathers. It contained three young, which were covered with a whitish down. We got them by felling the tree, which was remarkably thick; and whilst this operation was going on, the two parent birds flew in circles round the objects of their cares, keeping, however, so high in the air as to be out of gunshot: they did not appear to be dazzled by the light. The young ones were kept alive for two months, when they made their escape. They had the habit, common also to other Owls, of throwing themselves back, and making a loud snapping’ noise with their bills, when any one entered the room in which they were kept.—R. This bird has the posterior half of its bill covered with cere, rounded or swelled out on the sides, and very slightly arched on the ridge ; the curved point mode- rately compressed, much resembling that of Strix brachyota. Its auditory concha is much larger than that of S. (Budo) Virginana, but very considerably less in proportion than that of Strix brachyota, though the operculum is larger than in this bird.—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen, in very perfect plumage, killed at Great Bear Lake, in lat. 65°, supposed to be a male. Cotour of the Dill yellow. - Irides bright gamboge-yellow. That part of the facial disk which is next the bill is composed of hair-like feathers, which are black at the base, and white, with black shafts, upwards: the posterior part of the disk consists of feathers, having short, distinct, wiry-looking barbs of a greyish-white colour, tinged in some places with brown, and crossed by black bars, which form six concentric rings round the orbit. Posterior to the disk there is a semicircle of shining yellowish-brown, barred with blackish-brown, and edged on each side of the throat with white, having a satiny lustre. This semicircle forms the posterior border of the auricular concha, but extends beyond it. The whole dorsal aspect is of a dark-brown colour, irregularly barred and mixed with greyish-white, inferior to the brown in quantity, the markings somewhat resembling in form those of Strix Virginiana. The spurious wing feathers are clove-brown, with some slight white mottlings on their exterior webs; and the primary coverts have the same colour, crossed by three lighter bars. The primaries are also clove- brown, and are crossed by from six to eight bars, of which the five next the quills are greyish- white, mixed in a mottled manner with an equal quantity of brown ; the other bars next the tips are merely a shade lighter than the intervening spaces. The seconduries and tertiaries are barred like the bases of the primaries. The ¢ail is clove-brown, crossed by eight or nine bars, which are each formed of two white lines, edged and separated by brown ; the last bar occupies the tip of the tail. The ventral aspect is clove-brown, with short transverse bars of white, that do not reach the shafts of the feathers. The feet are greyish-white, finely barred with brown. Form, &c.—Head large. Bill broad above, tumid on the sides, and scarcely arched as STRIGIDA. 79 far as the cere extends, which is half its length; from the cere to the tip it is curved and somewhat compressed. The cutting margin of the upper mandible is not sinuated. The lower mandible is truncated at the tip, and is obtusely notched on the side near the tip. The nostrils are pretty large and nearly round. The cere is covered on the sides with hair-like feathers, which curve upwards and conceal the nostrils. The eyes are small, con- sidering the great size of the bird. The facial disk is large. The concha is also large, of a transversely oval form, and is capable of being closed by the large flap or opercu- lum which forms the posterior part of the facial disk. The margin of this operculum is formed of a dense row of short brown feathers, having flattened quills. The posterior border of the concha is clothed with feathers, having dense webs, soft and velvety to the touch. All these are covered by the margin of the orbital disk when the ear is closed. A row of brown feathers, with white or yellowish-brown tips, mixed with dark-brown, marks the auri- cular ring, which, except on the forehead, completely encircles the face. The longest feathers of this ring are those at the base of the lower mandible. The wings, when folded, reach within four inches of the end of the tail, or as far as the points of the claws when the legs are stretched out. The fourth quill feather equals the fifth, and is longer than the others ; the third is a quarter of an inch, and the sixth half an inch, shorter than these ; the second is upwards of an inch shorter than the third; the seventh is two inches shorter than the sixth, and the following ones diminish each in succession about three-quarters of an inch, The first is inter- mediate in length between the ninth and tenth. The two first have the tips of the barbs of their outer webs conspicuously recurved and separated; and the second to the fifth inclusive have their outer webs sinuated towards their points. The five first have their inner webs also sinuated, and the sixth is narrowed towards the point, but not so abruptly as to produce a distinct sinuation. The tail is wedge-shaped, consisting of twelve feathers, of which the outer ones are more than two inches shorter than the middle ones: it is very concave below. The legs are short and strong. The toes are naked beneath, but are clothed above with feathers, which extend beyond the roots of the nails, There are only two scales at the root of each nail. The claws are long, slender, tapering, very acute, and not much curved ; the middle one is grooved beneath, has a sharp outer edge, and a very sharp inner one, The inner claw has one edge partially acute; but the hind and outer claws are nearly as much rounded be- neath as those of the Osprey. The inner claw is the longest, the posterior and middle ones are a little smaller, and the outer versatile one is the smallest of all. Dimensions. Iuches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the point of the bill to the end Length of the inner fore claw c of the tail - ‘ é 2 = ol 0 >> of the bill, measured on the ridge . 1 10 5, of the tail : A : 5 lp 0 5, Of the bill from the angle of the 5, of the longest quill feather on 1S 0 mouth . : > a : : 1 9 >, Of the tarsus 2 C c 5 4 0 5, Of the cere, measured on the ridge. 0 10 » ofthe middletoe . 6 c 1 0 5, of the diameter of the nostrils. 0 3 Several other specimens were brought home, some of which differ in size from the preceding ; but there is no variation in the colours or distribution of the mark- 80 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. ings of any note. They differ from each other, however, in the relative lengths of the quill feathers. No. 2, of the same dimensions with the preceding (No. 1), and, therefore, most probably of the same sex, has the third quill feather equal to the sixth, and the second to the seventh, the fourth and fifth being the longest, as above. No. 3, twenty-six inches long, had the quill feathers of the same relative lengths with No. 1. No. 4, also twenty-six inches long, corresponded in the quill feathers with No. 2. No. 5, which was the largest, being twenty-seven inches long, had the fourth quill feather two lines shorter than the fifth, the third perceptibly shorter than the sixth, and the second an inch and a half shorter than the third. In all the speci- mens the first quill feather was a little shorter than the ninth, and between four and four inches and a half shorter than the fourth or fifth. The ear and operculum of the Great Cinereous Owl, showing the roots or quills only of the feathers. One of the ruff feathers of its natural size. The bill of the same, with merely a few of the basal feathers, that the form of the nostrils may be seen. STRIGIDE. 8] [21.] 4. Strix NEBULOSA. (Forster.) Barred Owl. Genus. Strix. Linn. Sub-genus. Ulula. Cuvirr. Strix nebulosa, and Grey Owl. Forst. Phil. Trans., lxii., pp. 386,424. GMELIN. Syst. Barred Owl. Latu. Syn., i, p. 133, sp.18. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 234, sp. 122. Strix nebulosa. Latru. IJnd., i, p. 58. Barred Owl. Witson. Orn., iv., p. 61, pl. 33, f. 2. Strix nebulosa. TEm™M. i. p. 88. Bonar. Syn., p. 38, sp. 30. This Owl, which is also a native of Northern Europe, was first described by Dr. Forster, from a Hudson’s Bay specimen sent to the Royal Society by Mr. Graham. It is probably an inhabitant of the southern districts of the fur-countries only, as we had not the fortune to meet with a specimen to the northward ; nor is it mentioned by Mr. Hutchins in his remarks on the birds frequenting the country at the mouth of Nelson river. Wilson says it is one of the most common Owls in the United States. He informs us that it is very frequently observed flying during the day, and that it certainly sees more distinctly at that time than many others of the same genus. It lays four or five nearly globular white eggs, in a nest built in a tree, of sticks intermixed with dry grass and leaves, and lined with smaller twigs. It preys on mice, young rabbits, and grouse ; and, according to the same author, both male and female, which differ remarkably in size, scream during the day like a Hawk. Not having seen an American specimen, the following description is borrowed from Wilson. DESCRIPTION, Extracted from Wilson’s Ornithology. “The male Barred Owl measures sixteen inches and a half in length, and thirty-eight inches in extent. Upper parts a pale brown, marked with transverse spots of white. Wings barred with alternate bands of pale-brown and darker. Head smooth, very large, mottled with transverse touches of dark-brown, pale-brown, and white. Eyes large, deep-blue *, the pupil not perceivable. Face, or radiated circle of the eyes, grey, surrounded by an outline of brown and white dots. ill yellow, tinged with green; breast barred transversely with rows of brown and white; belly streaked longitudinally with long stripes of brown on a yellowish ground ; vent plain yellowish-white ; thighs and feathered legs the same, slightly pointed with brown ; toes nearly covered with plumage ; claws dark horn-colour, very sharp. Tazl rounded, and * Trides brown. —Temminck. 82 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. remarkably concave below, barred with six broad bars of brown and as many narrow ones of white. The back and shoulders have a cast of chestnut. At each internal angle of the eye is a broad black spot. The plumage of the radiated circle round the eye ends in long black hairs, and the bill is encompassed by others of a longer and more bristly kind; these probably serve to guard the eye when any danger approaches it, in sweeping hastily through the woods ; and those usually found on Fly-catchers may have the same intention to fulfil; for on the slightest touch of the point of any of these hairs, the nictitant membrane was instantly thrown over the eye. ‘The female is twenty-two inches long and four feet in extent ; the chief difference of colour consists in her wings being broadly spotted with white, the shoulder being a plain chocolate- brown. The tail extends considerably beyond the tips of the wings. The bill is much longer, and of a more golden yellow. Iris of the eye the same as that of the male.” In addition to Wilson’s very excellent description, I may remark, that the toes are only half covered with feathers, there being seven transverse scales visible next the claws. The fifth quill feather is the longest *, the fourth equals the sixth, the third equals the seventh, the second equals the eighth, and the first is shorter than the ninth, but longer than the tenth. The tail is tipped with white. ? [22.] 5. Srrix (Buso) Virerntana. (Gmelin.) Virginian Horned Owl. Genus. Strix. Linn. Sub-genus. Bubo. Cuvier. The Great Horned Owl. (Otus Americanus.) Epwarps, pl. 60. Horned Owl. Exxis. Huds. Bay, p. 40, t. 2. Duc de Virginie. Burr. Planch. Enl., 207, f. 1. Virginian Eagle-Owl. Latu. Syn., i., p. 119, sp.2. IpbEM. Suppl. p. 40. Eagle-Owl. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii, p. 228, No. 114. (The author deeming it to be a variety of the Eagle-Owl of Brit. Zool.) Strix Virginiana. Laru. Ind., i., p. 52, sp.2. ViErLuor. Ois. de ’Am., i, pl. 19. Great Horned Owl. (Strix Virginiana.) WusoNn, Vi., p. 52, pl. 50, f. 1. Strix Virginiana. Vreitiot. Enc. Méth., 1282. Bonar. Syn., p.37, No. 27. Netowky-omeesew. CreE Inprans. (Mr. Hutchins.) Otowuck-oho. Crees of the Plains of the Saskatchewan. This large night-bird is peculiar to America, and most probably inhabits that continent from one end to the other; Cuvier being of opinion that the Strix Magellanica of the Planches Enluminées (585) differs from it merely in having * In a specimen in the British Museum. Forster, in his original description, says, ‘‘ Remex sextus reliquis longior, apice magis nigricans ; primus vero reliquis primoribus brevior. Remiges reliqui pallidiores obscurius fasciati.”” STRIGIDE. 83 browner tints of colour: neither is it uncommon on the Table Land of Mexico. Specimens that were sent to John Taylor, Esq., F'.R.S., from the vicinity of Real del Monte, have been compared, by Mr. Swainson, with those procured in the northern regions. They presented no other difference than what might be ex- pected in regard to the colour of individuals from localities so widely different. In those from Mexico the rufous tints of the plumage were more general and much brighter *. The Virginian Horned Owl is found in almost every quarter of the United States, and occurs in all parts of the fur-countries where the timber is of alarge size. Its loud and full nocturnal cry, issuing from the gloomy recesses of the forest, bears some resemblance to the human voice uttered in a hollow sepulchral tone, and has been frequently productive of alarm to the traveller, of which an instance occurred within my own knowledge. A party of Scottish High- landers, in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, happened, in a winter journey, to encamp after nightfall in a dense clump of trees, whose dark tops and lofty stems, the growth of centuries, gave a solemnity to the scene that strongly tended to excite the superstitious feelings of the Highlanders. The effect was heightened by the discovery of a tomb, which, with a natural taste often exhibited by the Indians, had been placed in this secluded spot. Our travellers having finished their supper, were trimming: their fire preparatory to retiring to rest, when the slow and dismal notes of the Horned Owl fell on the ear with a startling nearness. None of them being acquainted with the sound, they at once concluded that so unearthly a voice must be the moaning of the spirit of the departed, whose repose they supposed they had disturbed, by inadvertently making a fire of some of the wood of which his tomb had been constructed. They passed a tedious night of fear, and with the first dawn of day hastily quitted the ill-omened spot. The Virginian Horned Owl preys on the American hare, Hudson’s Bay squirrel, mice, wood-grouse, &c. It builds its nest of sticks on the top of a lofty tree, hatches in March, and its young, two or three in number, are generally fully fledged in June. Its eggs are white.—R. In the size and structure of the ears, in the imperfect facial disk, in the short- ness of the tarsi, and in the relative proportions of the claws, there is a close resemblance between this bird and Strix nyctea. The first quill feather is shorter than the fifth, but is nearer to it than to the sixth in length; the second and fourth * Lewis and Clark state, that they saw the “‘ Large Hooting Owl,” to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, only on the Kooskooskee ; and that it was of the same size and form with the Ow] of the United States, though its colours, particularly the reddish-brown, seemed deeper and brighter. M 2 84 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY, are equal, and very little shorter than the third, which is the longest. This struc- ture must be productive of a weaker flight than that of the Short or Long-eared Owls (Strix otus and brachyota).—Sw. DESCRIPTION Of a specimen killed at Fort Chepewyan. Cotour.—Bill and claws pale bluish-black. vides bright-yellow. Facial circle of a deep black immediately round the orbit ; composed of white, mixed with black bristly feathers at the base of the bill, and posteriorly of yellowish-brown wiry feathers, tipped with black, and having black shafts. The black tips form a conspicuous border to the facial circle posteriorly ; but the small feathers behind the auditory opening differ little in colour and appearance from the adjoining plumage of the neck. Egrets composed of ten or twelve dark-brown feathers, spotted at the base of their outer webs and along their whole inner ones with yellowish- brown. Forehead and crown dark blackish-brown, finely mottled with greyish-white, and partially exhibiting the yellowish-brown base of the plumage. The whole dorsal plumage is yellowish-brown for more than half the length of each feather from its base, and dark liver-brown upwards, finely barred and indented with undulated white lines. More of the yellowish-brown is visible on the neck and between the shoulders than elsewhere. The primaries present six or seven bars of dark umber or liver brown, alternating with six bars, which on the outer webs are brownish-white, finely speckled with dark-brown, and on the inner webs are of a bright buff-colour, sparingly speckled with the dark-brown near the shafts. The tips of the feathers have the same mottled appearance with the paler bars of the outer webs. The secondaries and tail feathers are similarly marked to the primaries, but show more white on their outer webs. There are six liver-brown bars on the fail, the last of which is nearly an inch from its end. Under surface.—Chin white, succeeded by a belt, extending from ear to ear, of liver-brown feathers, having pale yellowish-brown margins. Behind the belt there is a gorget-shaped mark of pure white. The rest of the lower surface of the body is crossed by very regular transverse bars of white, alternating with bars of equal breadth (three lines) of liver-brown, shaded with chocolate-brown. The yellowish-brown base of the plumage is likewise partially visible ; there is a white mesial line on the breast, and, when the long feathers covering the abdomen are turned aside, a good deal of white appears about the vent. The outside thigh feathers are yellowish-brown, with distant cross bars of liver-brown; and the legs and feet are brownish-white, with brown spots. The linings of the wings are white, with bars of liver- brown, margined by yellowish-brown. The insides of the primaries are bright-buff, crossed by broad bars of clove-brown. On the under surface of the secondaries the clove-brown bars are much narrower. The under tail coverts are whitish, with distant bars of liver-brown. The under surface of the tail has a slight tinge of buff-colour, and is crossed by mottled bars of clove-brown. Form, &c.—Head of moderate size. Bill very strong, curved from the base with an obtuse ridge ; its cutting margin very obtusely lobed in the middle. Cere moderately long. Nostrils STRIGIDA. 85 broadly oval. Facial circle incomplete above the eye. Auditory opening only three-quarters of an inch long, oval, without an operculum. Scapularies rather long. Tertiaries long, falling only about an inch short of the tip of the wing. The wings, when folded, fall four inches short of the end of the tail. The wing feathers have broad webs. The third quill feather is the longest ; the second and fourth are scarcely perceptibly shorter; the fifth is three-quarters of an inch, and the first an inch and a quarter shorter; the sixth and following ones diminish in length from three-quarters to half an inch in succession. The inner webs of the first and second are strongly sinuated, and that of the third less so; the outer webs of the second, third, and fourth, are distinctly undulated or obliquely sinuated. ‘he margins of the outer one, and that of the second and third below their sinuations, have the points of the barbs strongly reverted. The feathers of the tail have broad webs. The tail is slightly rounded, the exterior feathers being less than three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle ones. Feet clothed to the nails, at the root of which two large scales become visible when the feathers are turned aside. Middle and fore claws of the same length, both grooved beneath, and the former having an acute inner edge. Claws reaching within less than two inches of the end of the tail. The hind and outer one are smaller, and are slightly grooved at the base beneath.. The middle and outer toe are connected at the base by a very short, thick web. Dimensions. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the tail Q 6 0 j the tail ‘ : 0 : - 26 0 55 of the longest quill feather ao dle 0 >> of the bill, measured along its ridge 2 0 >> of the tarsus : : 5 1 3 a oF from the angle of the 5, Of the middletoe . 5 : 1 9 mouth tothe tip. : § : 1 8 5, Of the middle nail . : Ae | 3 3> Of the cere on its ridge : - 0 9 Another specimen, killed by Mr. Drummond on the Rocky Mountains, mea- sures two inches less in length, and differs generally from the preceding in being of a darker hue above, with finer and Jess copious white mottling. The yellowish- brown colour of the base of the plumage is also less bright, and the facial circle is of a more sombre hue. Its bill, also, is more compressed. 86 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. [23.] 6. Srrix (Buso) Arctica. (Swainson.) Arctic or White Horned Oul. Genus. Strix. Linn. Swb-genus. Bubo. Cuvier. Sp.Cu. Srrrx (Bubo) arctica, alba super hic illic brunnescens lineis crebris transversis mgrescentibus undulata, subter candida: jugulo abdomine tectricibus alarum internis pedibusque intactis; gutture pectore hypochondriusque Sasciatis. Sp. Cu. Arctic or WHITE HorNED Ow1, white, tinged here and there on the dorsal aspect with brown, and marked with crowded transverse blackish-brown bars and lines ; under plumage having a brilliant white ground colour, unspotted on the fore part of the neck, belly, under wing coverts, and feet ; banded on the throat, breast, and flanks. Poate xXxxil. This very beautiful Owl appears to be rare, only one specimen having been seen by the members of the Expedition. It was observed flying at mid-day in the immediate vicinity of Carlton House, and was brought down with an arrow by an Indian boy. I obtained no information respecting its habits. The only species mentioned by systematic writers that resembles this bird is the Strix Scandiaca, which Linnzeus, according to Pennant, described solely from a painting of Rudbeck’s. The same author mentions, however, that its existence was confirmed by Mr. Tonning, of Drontheim ; yet Temminck considers it to have been merely a young Snowy Owl, on which two fictitious egrets had been placed. The discovery of our species renders the existence of the Scandinavian Eared Owl more probable ; but the descriptions handed down to us of the latter are so imper- fect, that it can be considered only in the light of a nominal species until specimens of it are obtained. Wilson mentions a “ White Owl,” supposed to be a va- riety of Strix Virgimana, as having been seen in the United States; but, no details being given, it cannot now be ascertained whether it was our bird or not *.—R. In this remarkable species the facial disk is very imperfect; the ears small and without an operculum, as in Strix Virginiana ; the ear feathers ample; but the disk even smaller than in the last-mentioned bird, and the tarsi somewhat longer. The toes are similarly connected. The tail is of moderate length, and considerably rounded. The bill is strong, and rather short.—Sw. * The Wapacuthu Owl of Pennant and Latham, a Hudson’s Bay bird, resembles our White Horned Owl consider- ably in the colours of its plumage, but differs essentially in the want of egrets, which in our bird are long and highly developed. Neither Pennant nor Latham appear to have seen the Wapacuthu, their descriptions corresponding word for word with Mr. Hutchins’s manuscript notes. The Indian word Wapacuthu means ‘‘ White Owl,’”’ and is applied also to the Striv nyctea, although the common term for the latter is Wapo-ohoo. Mr. Hutchins says the Wapacuthu is an inhabitant of the woods, makes its nest in the moss on dry ground, and lays from five to ten white eggs in May. The young fly in June, and are entirely white for some time afterwards. The Wapacuthu preys on mice and small birds, which it generally kills for itself. The Expedition did not pass near Severn River, where Mr. Hutchins resided. ys ° ' ww aay A 1 i‘ ; t / . ‘ \ ‘ 2, 7 | . ' é : f 5 , * | | 4 : | . 3 ; ” - ¥ ; ' . | | ‘ i F 3 fe cae ; pay : ; | D ft if » 1 ie ‘ ae ; war . i ¥ ibs : ’ =n ens) 20 ae 4 sag Mae PRS gel Ot el = ea a S BUBO ARCTICUS. Londontrnivd fir John Murwy Divksdler ¢ STRIGIDA. 87 DESCRIPTION Of a specimen killed in May, 1827, at Carlton House. Cotour of the bill and claws bluish-black. rides yellow. The face is white, bounded posteriorly by blackish-brown, succeeded by white, which two latter colours are continued in a mixed band across the throat. grets coloured at the base like the adjoining plumage, the longer feathers tipped with blackish-brown, their inner webs white, varied with wood-brown. The whole dorsal aspect is marked with undulated lines or fine bars of dark umber-brown, alternating with white; the markings bearing some resemblance to those of the Virginian Owl, but being much more lively and handsome. On the greater wing coverts, on the inner half of the scapularies, and also partially on the neck and lesser wing coverts, the white is tinged or replaced by pale wood-brown. The primaries and secondaries are wood-brown, with a con-