THE TRUE BUZZARDS. I51 



Mediterranean countries and in South-eastern Europe. It is 

 a common species in certain parts of Africa, and is apparently 

 only a rare visitor to India, the specimens often identified as 

 B. desertomin from this country being, in all probability, refer- 

 able to B. plumipes. 



III. RED-TAILED BUZZARD. BUTEO BOREALIS. 



Falco borealis^ Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1788). 

 Bicteo borealis, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 188 (1874); 

 B. O. U. List Br. B, p. 94 (1883). 



Adult Male. — Of large size, and distinguished by its rufous 

 tail, the head and ear-coverts being smoky-brown, varied with 

 darker brown streaks ; the tail-feathers tipped with white and 

 crossed with a sub-terminal band of blackish-brown ; under 

 surface of body whitish, the breast streaked and the abdomen 

 mottled with bars of dark brown ; cere and gape greenish- 

 yellow ; bill bluish-black ; feet yellow ; iris pale amber. Total 

 length, 21 inches ; culmen, i"55 ; wing, 15*1 ; tail, 8*5 ; tarsus, 

 3-6. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but larger. Total length, 

 25 inches; wing, 17-5 ; tail, 9*5 ; tarsus, 3*8. 



Young Birds. — Brown, with the head and neck streaked with 

 white ; sides of face whitish, streaked with brown, the cheeks 

 uniform dark brown ; tail brown, slightly washed with rufous, 

 and crossed with nine bars of darker brown ; under surface of 

 body pure white, with brown stripes on the throat, broader on 

 the breast, the abdomen and flanks with arrow-head marks of 

 brown ; thighs white, with small transverse spots of pale rufous. 



Characters — The red tail of the adult sufficiently distinguishes 

 this Buzzard. The young birds may be distinguished by the 

 longer wing, and by the particoloured thighs, but as there are 

 many other species of Buzzard which possess these characters, 

 only an examination by an expert can decide any of the young 

 birds belonging to the genus Bufeo. 



Range in Great Britain. — The Red-tailed Buzzard is said to 

 have occurred once in Nottinghamshire, in the autumn of 

 i860, and is recorded in the list of the birds of that county by 

 Messrs. Sterland and Whitaker. 



