94 Mr. F. Du Cane Godraan on the Birds of the Azores. 



Brown, of St. Michael's, who kindly preserved it for me. It is 

 not a resident in the Azores, though in Madeira Mr. Vernon- 

 Harcourt says it is very common*. 



BuTEo VULGARIS, Bcchstein. '' Milhavre." 



Very common in the eastern and central groups, but scarcely 

 ever seen in Flores or Corvo. I found a pair building in a clitF 

 near the sea on the 22nd of March, in St. Michael's, and shot both 

 the old birds. Mr. Gurney, who has kindly examined them for 

 me, says that they are unusually rufous on the under parts of 

 the body, and that they consequently bear a considerable resem- 

 blance to the immature dress of the ordinary Buzzard of Bar- 

 bary, Buteo desertorum (Daudin). In size, however, they agree 

 with B. vulgaris, which is rather the larger bird of the two. In 

 the Azores Buzzards are by no means shy, and may constantly 

 be seen hovering over the towns or perching in the orange-gar- 

 dens. They feed chiefly on young rabbits, rats, and mice, of 

 which there is a great abundance. It is from this bird the is- 

 lands take the name of Azores f- 



Asio OTUS (Linnseus). 



Only a single example of this species came under my notice. 

 Mr. Dabney procured it in Fayal during my absence in Flores, 

 and kindlyhad it preserved for me. It was a very young bird, and 

 was brought to him by a boy who took it from the nest. I had 

 frequently heard of it in St. Michael's ; but it is nowhere com- 

 mon, and I never met with it living. 



Strix flammea, Linnaeus. " Coruja." 



Occasionally met with in the eastern and central groups. In 

 Flores and Corvo I did not find anyone who either knew the 

 bird or the Portuguese name for it ; hence I conclude it does not 

 extend to these outer islands. Several people in St. Michael's 

 and Terceira told me they had seen it, but I was unable to pro- 

 cure a specimen. The captain of a whaling-vessel told me that 

 one flew on board his ship when about 500 miles S.W. of the 



* See " Notes on the Ornithology of Madeira " in Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History, 2nd ser. vol. xv. pp. 430-438. 



t Agor, in Portuguese, is properly the Kite {Milvus icthms), for which 

 species no doubt the early explorers mistook this bird. 



