_Falco mississippiensis_, WILS. Am. Orn. pl. 25, f. 1, 1808.—LATH.
Gen. Hist. I, 275.—JAMES. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 72, 1831. _Nertus
mississippiensis_, BOIE, Isis, 1828, 314. _Milvus mississippiensis_,
CUV. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 335, 1829. _Ictinia mississippiensis_, GRAY,
Gen. B. fol. sp. 2; List B. Brit. Mus. p. 48, 1844; Gen. & Sub-Gen.
Brit. Mus. p. 6, 1855.—CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. p. 106, 1854.—KAUP,
Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck. p. 258, 1845; Monog. Falc. Cont. Orn. 1850,
p. 57.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 140, 1855.—BREWER, Oölogy, I, 1857,
41.—COUES, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 13, 1866.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 327
(Texas).—GRAY, Hand List, I, 28, 1869. _Falco plumbeus_, AUD. Orn.
Biog. II, 108, pl. cxvii; V, p. 374, 1831. _Ictinia plumbea_, BONAP.
Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 4, 1838; Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 30; Isis, 1832, p.
1137.—JARD. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 368, pl. 25, f. 1, 1832.—BREW. (WILS.)
Synop. 685, 1852.—AUD. Synop. B. Am. p. 14, 1839.—WOODH. (Sitgr.) Exp.
Zuñi & Colorad. p. 61, 1853.—NUTT. Man. 92, 1833.
SP. CHAR. _Adult male_ (No. 1,486, Coll. R. Ridgway, Richland Co.,
Ill., August 19, 1871). Head, neck, secondaries, and entire lower parts
plumbeous-ash, becoming, by a gradual transition, lighter on the head
and secondaries, where the shade is pale cinereous; the head anteriorly,
and the tips of the secondaries, being silvery-white. Lores and eyelids
black. Rest of the plumage dark plumbeous, approaching plumbeous-black
on the lesser wing-coverts, primaries, and upper tail-coverts, the tail
being nearly pure black. Primaries with an indistinct narrow concealed
stripe of chestnut-rufous on the outer webs, and larger spots of the
same on the inner webs; feathers of the head, neck, and lower parts
abruptly pure white beneath the surface, this showing in partially
exposed spots on the pectoral region and crissum. Scapulars also with
large concealed white spots. Shafts of primaries and tail-feathers black
on both sides. Wing-formula, 3, 2–4–5–6, 1. First primary angularly,
the second concavely, emarginated. Tail emarginated, lateral feather
longest; depth of fork, .40. Wing, 11.75; tail, 6.80; culmen, .63;
tarsus, 1.20; middle toe, 1.15.
_Adult female_ (No. 1,487, Coll. Ridgway, Richland Co., Ill., August 19,
1871). Similar to the male, but head and secondaries decidedly darker,
hardly approaching light ash; scarcely any trace of rufous on the
primaries, none at all on outer webs; shafts of tail-feathers white on
under side. Wing, 11.80; tail, 7.25. Bill, cere, eyelids, and interior
of mouth, deep black; iris deep lake-red; rictus orange-red; tarsi and
toes pinkish orange-red; lower part of tarsus and large scutellæ of toes
dusky. (Notes from fresh specimens, the ones above described.)
_Immature male_ (transition plumage; 1,488, Coll. Ridgway, Richland Co.,
Ill., August 21, 1871.) Similar to the adult female, but the white spots
on basal portion of pectoral and crissal feathers distinctly exposed;
secondaries not lighter than rest of the wing. Tail-feathers with
angular white spots extending quite across the inner webs, producing
three distinct transverse bands when viewed from below. Inner web of
outer primary mostly white anterior to the emargination. Wing, 10.50;
tail, 6.25. Color of bill, etc., as in the adult, but interior of mouth
whitish, and the iris less pure carmine.
_Immature female_ (Coll. Philadelphia Academy, Red Fork of the Arkansas,
1850; Dr. Woodhouse). Similar to the last. Wing, 11.10; tail, 6.31.
_Young female_ (first plumage; Coll. Philadelphia Academy, North
Fork Canadian River, September 19, 1851; Dr. Woodhouse). Head, neck,
and lower parts white, with a yellowish tinge; this most perceptible
on the tibiæ. Each feather with a medial longitudinal ovate spot of
blackish-brown; more reddish on the lower parts. The chin, throat, and
a broad superciliary stripe, are immaculate white. Lower tail-coverts
each with a medial acuminate spot of rusty, the shaft black. Upper
parts brownish-black; wing-coverts, scapulars, and interscapulars,
feathers of the rump, and the upper tail-coverts, narrowly bordered
with ochraceous-white, and with concealed quadrate spots of the same;
primary coverts, secondaries, and primaries sharply bordered terminally
with pure white. Tail black (faintly whitish at the tip), with three
(exposed) obscure bands of a more slaty tint; this changing to white on
the inner webs, in the form of angular spots forming the bands. Lining
of the wing pale ochraceous, transversely spotted with rusty rufous;
under primary-coverts with transverse spots of white. Wing, 11.90; tail,
6.40.
HAB. Central Mexico and Southern United States; common as far north as
Georgia (accidental in Pennsylvania, VINCENT BARNARD), on the Atlantic
coast, and Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, in the Mississippi Valley.
Exceedingly abundant summer bird on the prairies of Southern Illinois.
Localities: Coban (SALVIN, Ibis, III, 1861, 355); E. and N. Texas
(DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 327); Chester Co., Pa. (breeds; BARNARD.)