_Buteo calurus_, CASSIN, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. VII, 281, 1855;
Birds N. Am. 1858, 22.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 38, 1855.—COUES, Prod.
Orn. Ariz. p. 8, 1866.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 7, 1869. _Buteo montanus_
(not of NUTTALL!), CASSIN, Birds N. Am. 1858, 26.—NEWB. P. R. R. Rept.
VI, iv, 1857.—HEERM. P. R. R. Rept. VII, 31, 1857.—COOP. & SUCK.
P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 147, 1860.—COUES, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 7,
1866.—_Buteo swainsoni_ (not of BONAP!), CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. p. 98,
1854.
SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Similar to var. _borealis_, but darker, with more
rufous and blackish in the plumage; tibiæ always, and flanks and crissum
usually, barred with rufous; throat with the dark streaks suffused and
widened, so as to form the prevailing color. Tail with indications of
transverse bars anterior to the usual subterminal one, these varying in
number and distinctness with the individual. Whole plumage sometimes
sooty black, the breast, however, covered by an appreciably paler patch,
usually of a somewhat rufous hue. Tail sometimes with regular and
continuous narrow bands to the very base.
_Young._ Very much darker than that of var. _borealis_, the pattern
being similar, but the dark markings much expanded and more numerous;
tibiæ with heavy transverse spots of dusky.
HAB. Western region of North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific; south into Mexico; West Indies (Jamaica and Cuba, Mus. S. I.).
Localities quoted: (?) Xalapa (SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 368); Oaxaca
(SCL. P. Z. S. 1859, 389); (?) Cuba (CAB. Journ. II. lxxxii; GUNDL. Rep.
1865, 223; resident. “_B. borealis_”); S. E. Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865,
324).