OCR Text |
Show 1869.] MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN ON THE ASTURINAE. 131 et Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 217; Salvin, Ibis, 1861, p. 68; Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, pp. 201 et 227, 1859, pp. 368 et 389, 1864, p. 178; Lawr. A. N. Y. Lye. ix. p. 133. Asturina plagiata, Schl. Mus. d. P.-B. Asturinee, p. 1; Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 173. Supra schistacea fere unicolor : gula cinerea. Junior, tibiis albicantibus fusco transfasciatis. Hab. Mexico, New Leon (Couch); Jalapa (Salle); Vera Cruz (Mus. Berol.); Guatemala (Salvin) ; Costa Rica (Arce'). This northern representative of A. nitida is easily distinguishable by the darker and uniform slaty plumage above in the adult bird". In A. nitida the feathers of the head and upper neck are white, with numerous narrow transverse bars of slaty grey. On the back and wings externally the ground-colour is ashy, but the darker transverse bars, though wider, are numerous and very conspicuous. In the present bird the transverse barring is wholly absent, leaving the upper surface nearly uniform, though traces of transverse markings are apparent in some places beneath on raising the feathers, and are also faintly visible on the wing-coverts in some specimens. The lower of the two white tail-bands is narrower in the present bird than in A. nitida, but the upper appears to be usually more strongly shown in A. plagiata. The young plumage of the northern bird generally resembles that of the southern, but, as appears from the specimens we have met with, presents a constant difference in having the tibiee distinctly marked by numerous cross bands. In the young of A. nitida the thighs are of a uniform ferruginous, more or less deep. The most southern locality we have yet met with for this species is Costa Rica, whence Arce transmitted a single immature specimen in 1864. Dr. Peters having most kindly lent to us the type of Buteo pla-giatus, Licht., upon which Schlegel established his Asturina plagiata, we have been enabled to ascertain without doubt that it is the young of the present species. 3. ASTURINA MAGNIROSTRIS. L'e'perrier a gros bee de Cayenne, Buff. Pl. Enl. 464. Falco magnirostris, Gm. S. N. i. p. 282. Nisus magnirostris, Tsch. F. P. Aves, p. 104. Rupornis magnirostris, Cab. in Schomb. Guian. iii. p. 737. Asturina magnirostris, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 261, 1858, p. 451, 1859, p. 147, 1860, p. 288; Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 198, 1867, pp. 589, 753. Astur macrorhynchus, Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 6. Falco insectivorus, Spix, Av. Bras. i. p. 17, t. 8a (partim). Supra clare cinerea: subtus gula et pectore cinereis; ventre toto cum tibiis albo et rufescente cinereo frequenter transfasciatis. Hab. Cayenne (Buffon) ; Brit. Guiana (Schomb.); Rio Negro, Rio Brancho, and Rio Madeira (Natterer) ; Venezuela (Goering) |