J u
P l a t e L X X X V .
ACCIPITEE GUTTATUS,
(AZAEA’S SPAEEOW-HAWK).
•0 pardo y goteado . . . Azara, Ap u n t. i. p . 113, N. 24.
g u t t a t u s ...........................................Vieü lo t, N. D. d’H . N. ï . p. 325 e t E. M . p . 1266.
g u t t a t u s ........................................... S trick l. O ra . Syn. p. 110.
p ileo obscnriore, c ap itis la te rib u s plumbeis ; su b tù s ru fu s , g u ttu r e p lumbescentiore, maculis
u o ta tu s ; tib iis ferru g in eo -ru fis ; crisso p u rè a lb o : su b a laribu s ru fis : remig ib u s in tù s albis
I tran s v itta tis : caudâ su] rà fumido-nigrâ, su b tù s c in erascen ti-alb â nigro irreg u la rite r tra n s v itta tâ : ro s tro
nigro, cera flav ican te: p e dibus flavis, u n g u ib u s n ig r is : long, to lâ 1 4 0 , alæ 7 '9 , caudæ 6 '5 , ta rs i 2 '2 . Fem. ì l a r i
similis, sed major, long, to tâ 19 '0 , alæ 9 7, caudæ 8'0, ta rs i 2 0.
Ua b . in Pa rag u ay a (A za ra ): Bolivia (M m . B r it.) .
We first met -with examples o f tifis Span-ow-Iiawk in the collection o f the British Museum,
and, recognizing its distinctness from the nearly allied Accipiter chilensis and A . cooperi, were for
some time inclined to regard it as undescribed. But a patient study o f the complicated synonymy
of this group o f birds has brought us to the belief that it may possibly he the Esparvero p ardo
y goteado o f Azara, upon which Vieillot established his Sparvius guttatus, and it seems better
to employ this otherwise useless name for it than to invent a new one. The specimens first
spoken o f by Azara seem to have been immature, but tbe example described by his friend
Noseda {I. c. p. 114) in which the bi-east was cinnamomeous, appears to indicate a species
resembling the adult o f the present bird.
In general form and dimensions this Hawk closely resembles Accipiter chilensis, o f which
it is no douht the representative in the forests o f the eastern side o f the Andes; hut it
is at once distinguishable by the full nifous o f tlie under plumage. On the breast and belly
this is variegated by numerous incomplete white cross-bands, which occupy both webs o f each
feather, leavmg the centre rufous. These cross-hands are less apparent on the flanks, and
totally disappear on the thighs and under wing-coverts ; the chin and throat are suffused with
slate colour. Nex t to A. chilensis, Azara’s Sparrow-hawk presents gi-eater resemblance to
A . eooperi than to any other species o f the group with which we are acquainted, though, judging
from Mr. Lawrence’s description, it cannot be unlilce the Cuban A . gundlaclii, a species we have
not yet heen fortunate enough to meet with. E'rom A . eooperi, the present bh-d is readily
distinguishable by the more cinnamomeous colouring below, and the pure unspotted rufous o f
the thighs and under wing-coverts. In A . eooperi also the sides o f the head aud eai--covcrts
are finely striped, which is not the case in A . guttatus.