45 



137, 



with conspicioiis ruf ou.s margins and blackish 

 shafts ; tail more or less rufous, with sub- 

 teriniual baud and remains of other bars (in 

 younger birds ash3-brown barred M'ith darlv 

 browii) ; head, neck and luider parts taA\-ny 

 rufous, breast varied with creamy buff and 

 throat strealced Avith broAvn ; belh' not 

 barred in adult. 



Buteo rnjivtHk'r -Jerd. Madr. Jnl. 1844, p. 

 165. [Nilghirl Hills, India.} [=B. de-ser- 

 loruni Daud. ex Levaill.] 

 Desert Buzzard. 



Much larger : Wing <^ 16.25-17.75, tail 10.5, 

 tarsus 3.75. $ wing 18-19 in. ; breast huffish 

 to pale rufous with dark shaft streaks ; ab- 

 domen, flanks and thighs riifovis to chocolate 

 broAMi, unbarred ; tail pale rufous, whitish 

 at base and shafts white, with 2 or 3 definite 

 bars towards tip and remains of others ; 

 uniform dark under parts of some birds 

 probably a dark phase or ei'A-thrism rather 

 than age ; also subject to melanism : im- 

 mature huffish white below blotched and 

 streaked with dark rufons browii ; tail ash}- 

 with darker bars. 

 Buteo ferox ferox S. G. Gmel. 

 Ac. Petrop. xv., p. 442, pi. 

 [AstraJcan.] 

 Long-legged Buzzard. 



W. Asia and 

 vS.E. Europe* 

 (S. Russia to 

 Caucasus) ; 

 S. to India, 

 Arabia and 

 Africa below 

 the Sahara 

 in winter ; 

 cas. in Brit. 

 Islands. 



N. Comm. 

 X (1769). 



138. Buteo ferox ferox S. G. Gmel.. N. Comm. 8.E. Europe 



(cas. S. & W. 

 Europe), 

 Egypt, 

 Arabia, Asia 

 Minor ; W. 

 & C. Asia ; 

 N.W. India 

 and Africa 

 in winter. 



* The form B. menetriesi, Bogd., is not separable. It appears to rest 

 upon birds with a fully rufous tail and the bands obsolete, except the sub- 

 terminal one, but there is no doubt these are only very old birds and there is 

 no means of distinguishing European from Asiatic examples in the various 

 other stages of tail marking, while the red stage seems common to both. 

 Both forms migrate to Africa. 



