67. PEBNis. 345 



Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 24 (1867) ; Deyl. et Gerbe, Om. Eur. i. 

 p. 61 (1867) ; Loche, Erpl. Set. Algir., Ois. i. p. 46 (1867) ; Gray, 

 Hand-l. B. i. p. 25 (1869); Heiiyl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 97 

 (1869) ; Salvad. Faun. Ital Ucc. p. 12 (1871) ; Ketot. ed. Yarr. 

 Brit. B. i. p. 121 (1871) ; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 199 (1872). 



Buteo tachardiis, Bonn, et Vieill. Enc. Meth. iii. p. 224 (182-3); 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 361 ; Sold. Faun. Madag. p. x (1866). 



Pernis communis, Less. Traite, p. 7-5 (1831). 



Pemis apium, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 46 (1831).' 



Pernis vesparuni, Brehm, Viig. Deutschl. p. 47 (1831). 



Pernis platyura, Brehm, Naum. 1855, p. 268. 



Pemis tachardus. Gray, Haud-l. B. i. p. 26 (1869). 



Young * (just out of the nest, the sides of the head still pen- 

 feathered). Above chocolate-brown, sKghtly more rufous on the 

 hind neck, and much paler on the greater wing-coverts ; shafts of 

 all the feathers of upper surface blackish, and distinctly indicated ; 

 crown of head rather dark brown, the feathers over the eye and the 

 sides of face inclining to pale tawny rufous, and rather scaly in ap- 

 pearance ; under surface of body duU rufous brown, with very di- 

 stinct black shaft-stripes, the under tail-coverts paler and more 

 fulvous at base, as are also some of the breast-feathers ; under wing- 

 coverts brown, the outermost slightly washed with rufous ; upper 

 wing-coverts with distinct rufous margins ; upper tail-coverts pale 

 brown, slightly washed with rufous buff, especially near the base ; 

 quills blackish brown, secondaries paler and more chocolate, and 

 tipped with whitish ; under surface of quills brownish, white at 

 base of inner web ; tail ashy bi'own, broadly tipped with bufiy 

 white, with two distinct chocolate-brown bars, one across the middle 

 of the tail and one subterminal, and indications of about six or seven 

 more cross bars, but all of them very indistinct and more or less 

 faintly characterized and separated by very narrow interspaces of 

 ashy brown ; iris hazel. {Mus. Lugd. No. 10 of Schlegel's Cat.) 



Ohs. No. 9 of the Leiden Museum catalogue is also a young bird 

 of the year, and is very Kite-like in appearance, by reason of the 

 buff points to the feathers of the head and hind neck ; feathers 

 round the eye and over the ear-coverts black ; general colour of 

 upper surface brown, as in the foregoing example, but the greater 

 wing-coverts more ashy brown, and tipped with whitish ; secon- 

 daries also tipped with white, and marked largely on the inner web ; 

 otherwise the wings and tail as in the foregoing ; under surface also as 

 in No. 10, but a little darker on the chest, where the shaft-stppes 

 are broader ; forehead and chin whitish. 



Ohs. A young female from Syria is a little more advanced than 

 the last, and has lost almost all trace of the buff points to the head- 

 feathers, excepting a few remains on the hind neck ; the forehead 

 is white, but the absence of buff over the ej'c does away with the 

 apparent eyebrow of the preceding bird ; under surface a little 



* The series of Honey-Buzzards in the national collection not being quite 

 perfect, I have compiled the description of the species from the more complete 

 one in the Leiden Moseum. 



