to ' The Birds of India.' 339 



then inclined to consider it a distinct species, which he after- 

 wards noticed in ' The Ibis ' provisionally as B. fuliginosus. 

 In the notes I wrote out subsequently for eventual publica- 

 tion in ' The Ibis/ I state that " it looks very like a dark va- 

 riety of B.ferox, but with the tarsus apparently shorter and more 

 feathered in front." Other specimens in Mr. Hume's collec- 

 tion had the tail darker, and not so albescent. 



Mr. Hume, in the second part of his ' Scrap-book/ has 

 come to the conclusion that the dark bird is merely a state of 

 B. ferox. Other naturalists had previously stated that they 

 had seen specimens, both from Abyssinia and India, of a uni- 

 form dark chocolate-brown, viz. Gurney two, Schlegel one, 

 from Erzeroom, and Von Pelzeln one, from Sennaar; and this 

 last naturalist says that Brehm*s B. eximius is named from the 

 dark race of B. ferox. 



46. BuTEo AQUiLiNUS, Hodgson ajyud Blyth. The large 

 Hill-Buzzard. 



Buteo hemilasius, Schlegel, Faun. Japon. pi. 7. 



B. leucocephalus, Hodgson. 



There is no longer any doubt that Hodgson's bird, which, 

 from a young specimen he tirst named leucoceiihalus, is the same 

 as SchlegePs B. hemilasius ; the feathering of the front of the 

 tarsus narrowing to a point near the base of the tarsus, and the 

 peculiar scutation, described by both naturalists, quite agree. 

 One of Hodgson's specimens is in the British Museum, and 

 very closely agrees with the figure in the ' Fauna Japonica / 

 and this was sent as B. leucocephala, though with a brown head. 

 Among Hodgson's drawings is one in the young state, with 

 the head and neck white, as it is, indeed, more or less, in most 

 Buzzards. Gray formerly gave B. strophiatus as a synonym of 

 this species, in which he was followed by Kaup and Bonaparte, 

 notwithstanding, as Schlegel very ])roperly says, that this last 

 is described as an Archibuteo with the tarsus completely fea- 

 thered, i. e. in front and on the sides. 



Blyth's suggestion that this Buzzard is Falco asiaticus, La- 

 tham, has not been supported hitherto, and must remain a 

 doubtful point. 



