“I first remarked this species at the crossing of Graysonville ferry, on the San Joaquim river, California, and continued to meet with it occasionally until we had crossed Kern river. Owing to the lateness of the season, I was able to ascertain but little respecting its propagation; the only nests which were found having been forsaken some time previously by the young. These nests, composed externally of coarse sticks, and lined with roots, were built in the topmost branches of oaks, which grow abundantly on the banks of the large water-courses. “This bird, like the rest of its genus, appears sluggish in its habits, perching for hours in a quiescent state on some tall tree, and permitting the hunter to approach without showing any signs of fear. This apparent stolidity may, however, be owing to the fact that it is seldom molested, and has not yet learned to mistrust a gun, as do the birds of prey in more settled portions of the country.” The specimens brought by Dr. Heermann are now in the national collection at Washington city. DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS. Genus Buteo. Cuvier, Regne Animal, I., p. 323. (1817.) Buteo insignatus. Cassin, Birds of California and Texas, I., p. 102. (1854.) Form. Short and robust; wing long; third quill longest, secondaries emarginate at their tips; quills wide; tail moderate or rather short, somewhat rounded; under coverts of the tail long; tarsi rather short, feathered in front below the joints, with the tibiæ naked behind, and having in front about ten transverse scales; claws rather long, moderately curved; bill short; upper mandible slightly festooned. Dimensions. _Adult male._—Total length of skin, 17 inches; wing, 14½; tail, 7½ inches. Colors. Under coverts of the wing and tail white, the former striped longitudinally with pale ferruginous, each feather having a central dark line, and the latter transversely with reddish-brown; edges of wings at the shoulders nearly pure white; plumage of the tibiæ rufous, mixed with brown; throat and a few feathers of the forehead white, each feather having a line of dark brown, nearly black; entire other plumage above and below dark brown, nearly every feather having a darker or nearly black central line; quills above brown, with a slight purple lustre, beneath pale cinerous, with their shafts white, and with irregular and indistinct transverse bands of white; tail above dark brown, with an ashy or hoary tinge, and having about ten transverse bands of a darker shade of the same color; beneath nearly white, with conspicuous transverse bands of brown, the widest of which is subterminal; tip paler; bill dark; cere, tarsi, and feet yellow. _Adult male._