ll! i:
P l a t e X V I I .
ACCIPITER ERYTHROCNEMIS.
ffiED-THIGIIED SPAEEOV-HAWI).
Misus s t r i a t u s ...........................................
A c c ip ite r erythroonsmis
Nisu s fr in g illa r iu s , subsp. eryihrocnemius
N isu s vel A cc ip iter erythronemivs
Max. Be itr. iii. p, 111.
B u rm . Syst. U eb . ii. p. 71.
G. R. Gray, L is t o f A cc ip itre s, p. 70, (18-18).
S clater. P.Z.S. 1 8 6 6 ,p . 303.
K au p , Arch. f .N a t. xvi. Bd, i. p. 34, (1850).
K au p , Co n tr. Orn. 1850, p . 64.
Suprii fumid o -n ig er; su b tu s albus, pe cto re e t la terib u s s triis rach id um n ig ris item fasciis an g u stis transversis
Bu b o b so lete n o ta tis: tib iis l a t é fe rru g in e is : c auda fusco-nigrá, fasciis la tis sex, su b tu s albis, su p ra griscseenti-fuscis,
o rn a tá : alarum remigibus su b tu s albo n ig ro q u e tr a n s v itta tis ; su b a larib u s a lb is ; ro s tro nigro, cera flav id á ; pedibus
flavis; long, to ta 11-0, al® 6-6, caud® 5'0, ta rs i 1‘9, dig. med. cum u n g u e 1-5, Avis ju n io r, fcem. su b tu s maculis
tria u g u la rib u s onmino n o ta ta e t hypochondriis quoque fem ig in e is : long, to ta 12 0, al® 7-7, caud® 6 '0 , ta rs i 1 9 .
S a b . in Brasilia, Me rid . Orient.
It might, no doubt, be possible to find older spionyms o f Vieillot, and other authors in all
probability applicable to this species, which seems to represent our common Span-ow-bawk,
in Brazil. But looking to tbe state o f confusion into which tbe American members o f this group
have been thrown by tbe practice o f endeavom-ing to identify tbe vague descriptions o f tbe
older authors, we think it more prudent to retain for tbe present bird a name, which, having
access to the typical specimens, we can affirm is undoubtedly applicable to it. Under
our illusti-ation o f tbe nearly allied Accipiter cliionogaster (anteá PL XIV.) we have pointed out
the distinctions between this and tbe Guatemalan bb-d,— tbe only American species with which
it can be easily confounded when adult, though in tbe immature fonns o f all tbe species there
IS, o f course, a very general resemblance.
Prince JMaximilian o f jSfeu "Wied, who identifies this bird with tbe European Sparrow-hawk,
did not himself procure it in Brazil, but obtained one specimen o f it from a collector, near Bahia.
Burmeister calls it striatus, after Vieillot, but Vieillot’s Accipiter striatus, (Ois. de I’Am. Sept. I.
p. 4 2 ,1 .14), is founded on a species o f St. Dommgo, most probably referable to Accipiter fuscus,
and wc cannot therefore use bis name. Burmeister, however, very accm-ately points out tbe
differences between tbe present species and A . Juscus, and ti-uly states it to be more nearly allied to
tbe^European A . nisus. H e tells us, moreover, that it is a common species in the disti-ict o f Brazil
which be traversed, often coming near the villages and feeding on small passerine birds (such as
Xonotrichiapileata), after tbe same fashion as our wcll-kuown Sparrow-hawk. Bunneistcr obtained