Bill short, compressed, hooked; wings long, pointed; tail moderate,
generally emarginate; tarsi short. Contains four species only, much
resembling each other; one of which is American, one African, and two
Australian.
1. Elanus leucurus. (Vieill.) The Black-shouldered Hawk. The
White-tailed Hawk.
Milvus leucurus. Vieill., Nouv. Dict., XX. p. 563. (1818.)
Falco dispar. Temm., Pl. Col., I. (Liv. 54, about 1824.)
“Falco melanopterus. Daud.” Bonap., Jour. Acad. Philada., V. p.
28.
“Falco dispar. Temm.” Aud., Orn. Biog., IV. p. 367.
Bonap., Am. Orn., II. pl. 11, fig. 1; Temm., Pl. col. 319; Aud., B. of
Am., pl. 352, oct. ed. I. pl. 16. Gay’s Chili Orn., pl. 2.
Head above, entire under-parts, and tail, white, the middle-feathers
of the latter usually tinged above with ashy, and the head posteriorly
tinged with the same color, which gradually shades into a fine
light-cinereous, which is the color of the upper-parts of the body,
quills, and greater wing-coverts. Lesser wing-coverts glossy black,
which forms a large oblong patch; inferior wing-coverts white, with a
smaller black patch. Bill dark; tarsi and feet yellow.
Dimensions. _Female_—total length, 15½ to 17 inches; wing, 12; tail,
7½ inches. _Male_—smaller.
Hab. Southern States; California (Dr. Heermann); South Carolina (Prof.
Gibbes); Chili (Lieut. Gillis). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. An abundant species in the Southern and South-western States. It is
larger than the African _E. melanopterus_, with which it has been
confounded, but considerably resembling it and the Australian species in
form and general characters.