tu ^The Birda uf India.' 337 



dens. I fancy that Mr. Hume must have been deceived as to 

 seeing in the same neighbourhood a hu-ge Gull-like Eagle. 



-W. BUTEO VULGAKIS. 



Under this name two species are certainly included. One of 

 these is J4. Buteo japoxicus, T. & Schlegel, F. Japon. pis. G C!c 

 6b. This was considered by Blyth as well as by myself to be 

 B. vvlgaris ; but I tiud that it is considered by Mr. Gurney and 

 others to be the Japanese species, which thus extends through 

 China to the Himalayas, aud to the plains near the foot of the 

 hills in winter. I have found it at Darjeeling, in Kumaon_, and 

 Kashmir in summer, at a height of from 9000 to 10,000 feet. 

 I have also seen it in the cold weather at Saharunpore, in Deyi*a 

 Doon, and in the Punjab. At Gulmurg, in Kashmir, I found 

 it feeding both on the Arvicola roi/Iei and the Mocoa hima- 

 layana. 



A small male that 1 shot measured 20 inches in length, ex- 

 panse 45, wing 14|, tail 8. A female was .23 inches, expanse 

 5.2, wing \7\, tail 9. 



This Buzzard is stated to dilier from the European bird in us 

 somewhat more feathered tarsus, somewhat smaller size, and tail 

 with very numerous but not strongly defined dark bars. Most 

 of the specimens that I have myself procured or seen had the 

 general tinge of colour dull brown, not verging on rufous at all, 

 though I see that occasionally a rufous tint prevails, aud, as 

 Mr. Gurney remarked to me, the apron-like mark on the lower 

 surface is more observable. !Mr. Hume's remarks on the next 

 species, B. desert o rum, refer chiefly, I consider, to this species — 

 certainly as far as relates to the specimens obtained by myself, 

 and, I believe, to the others also. Indeed ilr. Hume himself 

 does not appear to have seen true B. desertorum, and says he is by 

 no means satisfied that the Indian bird (i. e. B.japonicus; is the 

 same as the African one. He moreover appears to have selected 

 the more rufous examples of B.japonicus to describe, considering 

 these to be more typical of the truly rufous species which he 

 imagines he is describing. His dimensions correspond with 

 B.japonicus, the wing being described in two specimens as 15i 

 and 17 inches. 



