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1850s Hand Colored Stone Lithographs of Birds of the West

Swainson's Hawk or Buteo Oxypterus

This is now considered a Swainson's Hawk but at the time of the survey in the 1850s it was considered to be a separate species, Buteo oxypterus. On the upper margin of the print it says "U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys ---32nd Parallel" and "Birds --- Plate XV."

The description of the bird in the survey report which wrongly identifies it says,

This species is about the size of the Buteo pennsylvanicus, but the wings and legs are much longer. The inner webs of the quills are dark cinereous, their inferior surfaces of a bronzed or silky olive lustre. Length about 16 inches; wing 13 1/2. The only specimen know at present was collected not far from Fort Fillmore by Dr. T. C. Henry.

Fort Fillmore is about 35 miles north of El Paso, Texas, just below Les Cruces, New Mexico, a bit out of the Swainson's Hawk's normal range in the Rockies, which may have led to its misidentification.

Below is the lithograph as it will come to you matted and in a protective clear plastic sleeve.

Price: SOLD

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