60 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Most of the honey buzzards in my collection were shot in village gar- 

 dens by the indignant owners of hives of bees. Some examples had the 

 stomach filled with honey, bees, and their larvae. Since honey was to 

 be found easily only near human habitation and since these large birds 

 were very tame and rather sluggish, they were readily killed. On 

 November 1, 1935, I saw six at one time soaring lazily above Chiang 

 Mai, and during that winter I frequently observed them perched upon 

 low trees^ beside the highways and close to houses. 



An adult male of October 1 is molting both remiges and rectrices ; 

 another of February 6, the remiges ; a subadult female of February 25, 

 the rectrices. Stresemann has suggested that gurneyi may breed in 

 Thailand, but I took only winter birds with inactive gonads and Riley's 

 specimen of May 4 from Pak Chong may have been a migrant (as is my 

 example of ruficottis of even later date). 



An adult male had the irides deep orange ; the cere black above, olive- 

 green at the sides; the maxilla black, olive-green on the sides at the 

 base; the mandible slaty at the tip, then plmnbeous, with the extreme 

 base yellow-green ; the rictus pale yellow ; the feet and toes yellow ; the 

 claws horny slate. 



Hawks of this genus may always be known in the hand by their hav- 

 ing the lores and sides of the head closely covered with small, scalelike 

 feathers, instead of the usual bristles and naked skin. In plumage the 

 individual variation is so great that the species may be described as 

 polymorphic. It usually has the upperparts dark brown; the head 

 more or less whitish, owing to the white bases of the feathers showing 

 through ; the lores and sides of the head some shade of gray ; the un- 

 derwing whitish, with broad, irregular bars of blackish ; the upper sur- 

 face of the tail barred blackish brown and light brown or whitish, the 

 dark and light bands of subequal breadth (adults) or the dark bars 

 much narrower than the pale ones, the latter crossed by numerous 

 narrow medium brown bands (immatures) ; the lower surface of the 

 tail similarly but rather less distinctly marked ; the underparts various, 

 light brown with narrow black streaks, white barred everywhere with 

 brown, white, or buffy marked with black or brown drops, plain dark 

 brown, or any combination of these colors and markings ; the throat 

 usually of some light color, often set off by black borders and a black 

 mesial streak. 



According to Stresemann's diagnosis (loo. cit.), this form agrees 

 with ruficollis in having the "tail-wing index" usually under 65 mm. 

 and the "wing-tip" usually under 110 mm., but differs in its shorter 

 wing length (from 363 to 400 mm.). Of three nonmolting specimens 



