_Falco harrisi_, AUD. B. Am. pl. cccxcii, 1831.—IB. Orn. Biog. V,
30. _Buteo harrisi_, AUD. Synop. 1839, 5.—BONAP. List, 3.—DE KAY,
Zoöl. N. Y. II, 11.—_Craxirex unicinctus_, var. _harrisi_, RIDGWAY,
P. A. N. S. Philad. Dec. 1870, p. 142. _Buteo unicinctus_, var.
_harrisi_, COUES, Key, 1872, 215. “_Craxirex unicinctus_, TEMM.”
CASS. Birds N. Am. 1858, 46.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 329 (Texas).—COUES,
P. A. N. S. 1866, 13 (Arizona).
SP. CHAR. _Adult male_ (17,230, Cape St. Lucas, Lower California; J.
Xantus). General plumage uniform sooty-black, purest on the tail,
somewhat tinged with chestnut on the rump. Lesser wing-coverts and
lateral half of each web of middle coverts, also the tibiæ, rich
deep chestnut, perfectly uniform. Upper and lower tail-coverts, and
broad basal and terminal zones of tail, pure white, the anterior band
concealed (except on outer feathers) by the upper coverts, and about
twice the width of the last, which is about 1 inch wide. Tail-coverts
with a few irregular narrow shaft-streaks of blackish. Lining of wing
deep chestnut, like the shoulders; each greater covert with a black
shaft-streak; primaries beneath plain black. Wing, 14.50; tail, 10.00;
tarsus, 3.25; middle toe, 2.00. Fourth and fifth quills longest and
equal; third considerably shorter; second intermediate between sixth and
seventh; first 3.40 shorter than longest.
_Adult female_ (42,559, Iztlan, Mexico; Colonel Grayson). Generally
similar to the male; the black, however, less pure and more brownish,
the chestnut more extended, the whole rump being of this color, the last
feathers merely being blackish in the middle. White of tail-coverts
without blackish streaks. Wing, 14.60; tail, 10.30; tarsus, 3.25; middle
toe, 1.95.
_Immature male_ (second year, 50,763, Tepic, Mexico; Colonel Grayson).
Upper parts similar to adult, but less uniform; the nape and back with
feathers edged with rusty; sides of head and neck very much streaked.
Breast and abdomen light ochraceous, with large longitudinal oval spots
of black; tibiæ light ochraceous, with rather distant transverse bars
of dark rusty-brown; lower tail-coverts ochraceous-white, with black
shaft-lines. Rufous on the wings more extended and more broken; none
on the rump. Terminal band of tail narrower and less sharply defined
than in adult; inner webs of primaries with basal two-thirds white,
irregularly mottled with dusky. “Iris chestnut-brown; cere, chin, and
space round the eyes yellow.”
_Immature female_ (second year, 15,260, Fort Buchanan, New Mexico; Dr.
Irwin). Black spots beneath larger and more irregularly defined; tibiæ
strongly barred with dark rufous; posterior edge of basal band of tail
much broken.
HAB. Middle, or northern tropical, America, from the Isthmus of Panama
northward into the southern United States; Mississippi (AUDUBON); Texas
(Mus. S. I.; DRESSER); Arizona (COUES).
Localities: Guatemala (SCL. Ibis, I, 216).