Mr. li. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitrrs. 365 



iris instead of the dark hazel iris which is characteristic of 

 normal specimens. 



Apart from these accidental variations of plumage, the 

 passage from the immature to the adult dress is not marked 

 in this species by any very conspicuous change ; the dark 

 markings on the under surface, however, are decidedly more 

 or less longitudinal in immature specimens, whilst they are 

 always transverse in those which are fully adult, except on 

 the throat, where they are permanently longitudinal. 



Mr. Sharpe speaks of a young bird as having the inter- 

 spaces on the upper surface of the tail " strongly shaded with 

 rufous/' I have also seen a rufous tinge on the rectrices of 

 an immature specimen ; but it is by no means a characteristic 

 of immature age, as it is most frequently absent at that 

 period, and on the other hand, I never saw it so strongly 

 marked as in a specimen which was known to have lived in 

 confinement for twenty years. 



At page 182 of his work, Mr. Sharpe also remarks that 

 British specimens of this Buzzard " are certainly darker than 

 continental birds." This statement does not altogether tally 

 with my experience ; and it is my belief that no geographical 

 variation of tint woidd be found to prevail in a sufficient 

 series of normal specimens of British and foreign origin, 

 though I think it probable that partial leucotism will be 

 found more rife among the individuals of this species in some 

 countries than in others, and though it certainly is not very 

 prevalent amongst British specimens, which are, for the most 

 part, normal in their markings and coloration^. 



It is remarkable that the island of ^Madagascar should pos- 

 sess a distinct Buzzard [B. brachi/pterus) , which, but for its 

 proportionally shorter wing, might almost be said to be a 

 miniature of B. vulgaris ; but as this curious species does not 

 appear to require any further comment on the present occa- 



* The ' Zoologist ' for the present year contains at page 4829 an inter- 

 esting note by Mr. Cordeaux on the contents of a nest of Buteo vulgaris, 

 taken in North Wales in June 1872. He says, " there were two young 

 partly jSedged birds in the nest ; and beside them lay two moles, two. 

 stoats, and a pine-marten.'" 



