27. BTTTEO. 177 



B. of Egypt, p. 201, pi. ix. (1872) ; Hume, Stray F. p. 159 (1873) ; 



Schl. Mils. P.-B. Remie Accipitr. p. 107 (1873). 

 Buteo exiniius, Brehm, Naumaiima, 1855, p. 4. 

 Buteo pectoralis, Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 35 (1855). 

 Limnosalius africanus, IFiirt. Naiim. 1857, p. 432. 

 Buteo ferox, var. obscura, PeJz. Verh. z.-b. Wien, 1862, p. 147. 

 Buteo fuliginosus, Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 356. 



Young. Above rufous, tbe feathers centred with brown, forming 

 narrowly longitudinal streaks on the head and hind neck, which are 

 paler and more fulvous than the rest of the back ; small wing-coverts 

 tawny rufous, with narrow brown central streaks, the rest of the 

 wing-coverts pale brown, margined and barred on the outer web 

 with pale rufous, the inner web whitish ; primaries dark brown, 

 shaded with ashy grey on the outer web, which is indistinctly 

 barred with dark brown, and washed with rufous near the base ; 

 secondaries rather paler brown, tipped with bufly white and barred 

 on the inner web with dark brown like the primaries, the inner 

 lining of the quLUs pure white, the secondaries only showing re- 

 mains of bars on inner web ; lower back and rump darker brown 

 than the upper part, notched and margined with rufous ; upper tail- 

 coverts huffy white on outer web, rufous on inner, with dark brown 

 shaft-stripes and remains of brownish bars ; tail ashy brown, tipped 

 with fulvous and shaded with ashy grey, inclining to rufous near 

 the tip, aU the feathers whitish at base and on the inner web, and 

 having more or less distinct remains of brown cross bars ; sides of 

 face and underparts creamy buff, streaked with dark brown, those 

 on the cheeks a little broader and showing a tolerably defined mous- 

 tachial line; the lower flank-feathers more largely marked with 

 rufous brown, which occupies the greater part of the feather ; thighs 

 strongly tinged with rufous, the brown central streaks a little 

 broader and more pronounced ; under wing-coverts creamy buff, 

 narrowly streaked with rufous brown, the outer ones entirely brown 

 on the outer edges. 



The bird above described is manifestly quite young, from the pale 

 and narrowly streaked character of the underparts ; it was killed 

 by Messrs. Dickson and Ross on the 3rd of August 1843. The 

 under surface in this species darkens with age until the old bird 

 arrives at the uniform sooty brown plumage, in which it is very rare 

 in collections. The red tail cannot be regarded as a sign of actual 

 immaturity ; for the birds breed in this stage, and even then they 

 seem to put on a rufous taU shaded with silvery grey before abso- 

 lutely attaining the grey tail banded with dark brown which cha- 

 racterizes the last stage of this species. It would appear, therefore, 

 that the different changes are very gradual, and occupy a long time. 



Adult male in hreeding-plumage (Volga, May 1870). Above brown, 

 all the feathers broadly margined with tawTiy rufous, except on the 

 lower back and rump, where the feathers are uniform brown ; entire 

 head and neck tawny, with narrow brown streaks down the centres 

 of the feathers, more distinct on the nape ; sides of head and ear- 

 coverts whitish, with narrow rufous shaft-lines ; entire under sur- 



VOL. I. 



