Genus Archibuteo. Brehm. in Oken’s Isis, 1828, p. 1269.
Tarsi feathered in front to the toes, but more or less naked behind.
General form, compact and heavy; wings, long and broad, formed for
long-continued but not very rapid flight; bill, short, curved, edges of
the upper mandible festooned; tail, moderate, wide, tarsi rather long;
toes, short; claws, moderately strong, curved, very sharp. Contains
about six species, three of which are American.
Archibuteo ferrugineus. (Lichtenstein.)
Buteo ferrugineus. Licht. Trans. Berlin Academy, 1838, p. 428.
Archibuteo regalis. Gray, Genera of Birds, 1 pl. 6 (1849, plate only).
Form. Robust and compact; bill, rather large; wings, long, with the
third quills longest, all the primaries more or less incised on their
inner webs near the end; tarsi feathered in front to the toes, naked and
scaled behind; toes, short; claws, strong.
Dimensions. Total length (of skin), female, about 22 inches; wing, 16½
to 17; tail, 9 inches.
Color. _Adult._—Tibiae and tarsi bright ferruginous, with transverse
stripes of brownish-black, irregular and indistinct on the latter.
Entire upper parts with irregular longitudinal stripes of dark-brown and
light ferruginous, the latter color predominating on the shoulders and
rump. All the upper plumage white at the bases of the feathers, and on
the back with concealed irregular transverse stripes of brownish-black.
Quills, ashy-brown, lighter on the outer webs, and with a part of the
inner webs white, and with obscure brown bands. Tail, above, ashy-white,
tinged with pale ferruginous, and mottled obscurely with ashy-brown, in
some specimens narrowly tipped with black; tail, beneath,
yellowish-white, unspotted. Entire under parts of the body white,
slightly tinged with yellowish, with narrow longitudinal lines and
dashes of reddish-brown on the breast, and narrow irregular transverse
lines of the same color, and others of black, on the sides, flanks, and
abdomen; under tail coverts, white; axillary feathers and some of the
inferior coverts of the wing, bright ferruginous; toes, yellow; bill and
claws, dark.
_Young._—Entire upper parts dark umber-brown, a few feathers edged and
tipped with pale ferruginous; upper coverts of the tail white, spotted
with dark-brown; entire under parts pure white, with a few longitudinal
lines and dashes of dark brown on the breast, and arrow-heads or
irregularly shaped spots of the same color on the sides and abdomen,
larger and more numerous on the flanks. Tibiæ and tarsi white,
irregularly spotted with dark-brown; axillary feathers, white, with
large subterminal spots of brown; under wing coverts and edges of the
wings white, with a few brown spots; under tail coverts, white.
Hab. California. (Mr. Kern, Dr. Heermann.) Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. This very distinctly characterized species somewhat resembles some
stages of plumage of the Rough-legged Hawk and of the Black Hawk
(_Archibuteo lagopus_ and _sancti-johannis_) but not sufficiently to
render it necessary to point out differences. It has, as yet, only been
observed in California, but will, very probably, like many other species
of Western birds, be found to inhabit also the northern regions of this
continent.
[Illustration: Plate 27
The Black-headed Gnat-catcher
Culicivora atricapilla (_Weill_)]
CULICIVORA MEXICANA.—Bonaparte.
The Black-headed Gnat-catcher.
PLATE XXVII.—Male and Female.
This delicate little bird is an inhabitant of Texas, where it was first
noticed by Capt. J. P. McCown, of the U. S. Army. He obtained it near
Ringgold Barracks, in 1850, since which period specimens have been
brought in the collections of various other officers and naturalists. It
is also known as a bird of Mexico.
This species belongs to a small group of little fly-catching birds, of
which several others are found in America, though two of them only come
within the limits of the fauna of the United States. Of these, one, the
little blue gray Flycatcher (_Culicivora cœrulea_), has been long known
as a summer resident in the woods and forests of the Middle and Northern
States, and is one of the earliest to return, from its winter journey in
the south, to its northern home. The other is the bird now before the
reader.
These little Flycatchers are amongst the smallest of our native birds.
They almost exclusively inhabit the woods, and are constantly seen
actively engaged in the capture of the minute insects on which they
feed, in pursuit of which they search very industriously, not only
shrubbery, but trees of the greatest height. The present is the smaller
of the two northern species, and is represented in our plate of the size
of life.
For the following memorandum relating to this little bird we are again
indebted to the kindness of Dr. Heermann:
“I first met with this species near San Diego, California, in 1851, and
during the recent survey found it abundant in the vicinity of Fort Yuma.
Its habits much resemble those of the Blue-gray Gnat-catcher of the
Eastern States (_Culicivora cœrulea_), it is very quick in its
movements, searching actively for food, preferring, apparently, the low
trees and bushes, and at times darting about in the air in pursuit of
small insects. The only note that I ever heard it utter was a chirp, so
feeble in its tone that it could be heard but a short distance.
“The last specimen procured by me was shot in a hedge bordering a field
cultivated by the Pimos Indians, whose village is situated about two
hundred miles above the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers.”
The figures in the present plate, which we regard as those of adult male
and female, are of the size of life.
The plant is _Zauschneria californica_, a native of California.