_Falco lineatus_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. p. 268, 1789.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p.
27, 1790; Syn. I, 56, sp. 36, 1781; Gen. Hist. I, 268, 1821.—DAUD.
Tr. Orn. II, 158, 1800.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 153, 1812.—WILS. Am. Orn.
pl. liii, f. 3, 1808.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 296, 1831; Syn. p. 7, 1839.
CUVIER, Reg. Anim. ed. 2, I, 334, 1829. _Buteo lineatus_, JARD.
(WILS.) Am. Orn. II, 290, 1832.—AUD. Syn. p. 7, 1839.—BREWER, (WILS.)
Am. Orn. 684, 1852.—CASSIN, Birds Cal. & Tex. Syn. 99, 1854; Birds
N. Am. 1858, 28.—BONAP. Comp. Av. p. 19, 1850.—KAUP, Web. Falk. Mus.
Senck. 1845, p. 261.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 30, 1855.—BREWER, Oölogy,
1857, 28, pl. iii, f. 25.—MAX. Cab. Journ. VI, 1858, 19.—GRAY, Hand
List, I, 7, 1869. _Poecilopternis lineatus_, KAUP, Mon. Fal. Cont.
Orn. p. 76, 1850. _Falco hyemalis_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. 274, 1789.—LATH.
Ind. Orn. 35, 1790; Syn. I, 79, sp. 62, 1781; Gen. Hist. I, p.
91.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 110, 1800.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 153, 1812.—WILS.
Am. Orn. pl. 35, fig. I, 1808.—BONAP. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 33; Isis,
p. 1138, 1832.—AUD. B. Am. pl. lvi, 71, 1831; Orn. Biog. I, 364,
1831. _F. hyemalis_, var. LATH. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. 8, 1801; Syn.
Supp. II, 39, 1802. _Circus hyemalis_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pl.
vii, 1807.—JAMES. Wils. Am. Orn. I, 88 & 87, 1808. _B. hyemalis_,
LESS. Tr. Orn. p. 81, 1831.—BONAP. Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 3, 1838.
_Astur hyemalis_, JARD. Wils. Orn. II, 72, 1808.—VIEILL. Enc. Méth.
III, 1273, 1823. _Nisus hyemalis_, CUV. Reg. An. ed. 2, I, 334, 1829.
_Buteo fuscus_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. v, 1807. _Astur fuscus_,
BONAP. Oss. Cuv. Reg. An. p. 37, 1830. _Falco buteoides_, NUTT. Man.
I, 100, 1832. _Buteo cooperi_ (not of Cassin), ALLEN, Am. Nat. III,
1869, 518 (young of _B. lineatus_!)
SP. CHAR. _Adult male_ (32,509, Washington, D. C., January). Head, neck,
and interscapulars deep rufous (above becoming darker posteriorly),
each feather with a medial stripe of blackish-brown. Throat and cheeks
almost destitute of rufous tinge, the ground being dull white,—the
dusky forming an indistinct “mustache,” and an imperfect, obsolete
collar (formed by confluent, or suffused streaks), across the throat.
Breast, sides, abdomen, and tibiæ rather light rufous, becoming paler
posteriorly; breast with shaft-streaks of blackish; the rufous of
sides of breast almost unvaried; abdomen, sides, and middle of the
breast, with transverse bars of ochraceous white; tibiæ uniform pale
ochraceous; anal region and lower tail-coverts, immaculate white.
Lesser wing-coverts chestnut-rufous, feathers with black shaft-streaks,
these becoming larger posteriorly; scapulars and middle wing-coverts
edged broadly with rufous, and obsoletely spotted on inner webs with
white.—this somewhat exposed; secondaries dark clear brown, tipped and
crossed with two (exposed) bands of white; primaries black, fading at
tips into dilute grayish-brown, and with quadrate spots of white on
outer webs. Rump uniform blackish-brown; upper tail-coverts tipped
and banded with black. Tail clear brownish-black, crossed with six
sharply defined narrow bands of white, the last of which is terminal,
and the first two concealed by the upper coverts. Lining of the wing
nearly uniform pale rufous, with very sparse, deeper rufous, somewhat
transverse spots; under surface of primaries silvery white, crossed
by broad bands, these where the white is clearest being pale rufous,
bordered with dusky, but as the white grows more silvery they darken
into black; the longest (fourth) has eight of these spots, including
the subterminal, very broad one. Fourth quill longest; fifth, just
perceptibly shorter; third, a little shorter; second, considerably
longer than sixth; first equal to ninth. Wing, 13.00; tail, 8.50;
tarsus, 2.90; middle toe, 1.33.
_Adult female_ (11,991, Washington, D. C.; Dr. W. Wallace). Generally
similar to the male, but rufous more extended, this tinging the outer
webs of secondaries and primaries. On the under parts the rufous is
rather deeper, and the tibiæ are strongly barred, and even the lower
tail-coverts have obsolete spots of the same. Wing, 13.75; tail, 9.00;
tarsus, 2.90; middle toe, 1.50.
_Younger_ (41,683, Washington, D. C.; Dr. Coues). Upper plumage
precisely as in adult, but the black prevailing on head above, and
nape. Beneath ochraceous-white, deepest on the tibiæ; breast, abdomen,
sides, and tibiæ, with diamond-shaped spots of dark rufous-brown,
connected along the shaft of the feathers, running thus, in a peculiar,
longitudinal, chain-like series (19.50; 42.50; cere, legs, and feet
bright chrome-yellow; anterior scales of tarsus with greenish tinge).
_Young male_ (No. 1,210). Ground-color of head, neck, and under
parts white; feathers of head and neck, with medial stripes of
dark clear vandyke-brown, leaving a superciliary space, and the
ear-coverts scarcely striped; a blackish suffusion over cheeks,
forming a “mustache,” and large longitudinal spot of the same on
middle of throat; breast, abdomen, sides, and flanks, with rather
sparse, irregularly sagittate spots of clear vandyke-brown, those on
the sides of breast more longitudinal; tibiæ, with a faint ochraceous
tinge, and with sparse, small, and irregular specks of brown; lower
tail-coverts with a very few distant isolated bars of the same.
Upper parts generally, clear dark vandyke-brown; interscapulars and
wing-coverts edged (most broadly beneath the surface) with pale rufous;
middle wing-coverts with much white spotting on upper webs, partially
exposed; wing-coverts generally, and scapulars, narrowly bordered with
white; secondaries narrowly tipped with white, and crossed with about
four (exposed) bands of paler grayish-brown; primaries inclining to
black; faintly margined at ends, with whitish; outer webs anterior to
the emargination, rufous-white, with distant, narrow bars of blackish,
these widening on inner quills; upper tail-coverts white with transverse
spots of blackish. Tail dark vandyke-brown, narrowly tipped with white,
and crossed with numerous narrow bands of pale grayish-brown, these
obsolete towards the base. Lining of the wing pale ochraceous, with a
few irregularly cordate spots of dark brown toward edge of wing; under
surface of primaries mostly white, the dusky bars not extending across
the web, except on inner quills. Wing, 13.25; tail, 9.30; tarsus, 2.85;
middle toe, 1.40.
_Young female_ (11,994, Washington, D. C., January; C. Drexler). Almost
precisely similar; tibiæ unspotted; light bands of the tail more sharply
defined basally, and pale mottled rufous, instead of pale ashy brown.
Wing, 14.50; tail, 9.60; tarsus, 3.10; middle toe, 1.45.
HAB. Eastern N. Am.; south to Florida; west to Texas and the tributaries
of the Missouri.
Localities: Orizaba, SCL. 1857, 211; S. E. Texas, DRESSER, Ibis, 1865,
325 (breeds); Iverness Shore, England (Feb. 26, 1863), NEWCOME, Ibis,
1865, 549.