BUTASTUR. 3G5 



Bill and cere orange, the tips of both mandibles brown ; iris 

 yellow; legs yellow; claws dark horny (Oates). 



Length 15-5; tail 5-75; wing 11; tarsus 2-4; bill from 

 gape 1-35. 



Distribution. Probably throughout Burma ; common in Pegu, 

 rare or wanting in Southern Tenasserim, found also in Siam, 

 Borneo, Java, and Celebes. 



Habits, 4'c. Very similar to those of B. teesa, this species in- 

 habiting open country and the banks of rivers, and feeding on 

 snakes and crabs (freshwater). The nest has been described by 

 Oates and Peilden, who found it on trees in March ; both nest and 

 eggs precisely like those of B. teesa. 



1222. Butastur indicus. TJie Grey-faced Buzzard-Eagle. 



Falco indicus, Gm. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 264 (1788). 



Falco poliogenys, Tetti^n. PL Col. pi. 325 (182.5). 



Buteo pygmseus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 177 (1845) ; id. Cat. p. 29. 



Poliornis poliogenys, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 245 ; Hume, Bough Notes, 



p. 290. ^ ' 



Butastur indicus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 297 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. 



vi, p. 19 ; Hume, Cat. no. 48 bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 197. 

 Poliornis indicus, Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 61. 



Coloration. Above brown, dark-shafted ; the head, neck, and 

 back greyish : sides of forehead and lores white, with black 

 bristles ; sides of head more ashy, the white bases of the feathers 

 showing slightly on the nape ; wing-coverts and outer webs of 

 secondaries tinged and mottled with rufous to a varying extent • 

 quills brown above, the inner webs rufous-brown, whitish below, 

 white towards the base, subdistantly barred with dark brown; 

 tips of primaries blackish ; upper tail-feathers tipped and barred 

 white ; tail brown above, whity brown below, with usually 4 

 (rarely 3 or 5) distinct broad blackish cross-bars, nearly or quite 

 as broad as the interspaces, the first bar partly concealed by the 

 taU-coverts, the last not quite at the tip ; the bars are indistinct 

 or wanting on the outer pair of tail-feathers ; throat white, with 

 three dark stripes, one median, two lateral, sometimes indistinct ; 

 breast and abdomen rufescent ashy brown, a few white spots on 

 the upper breast, which become irregular bars on the lower breast 

 and abdomen, the brown bars growing narrower on the lower 

 abdomen and thigh-coverts ; under tail-coverts white. 



In the young the feathers of the crown and nape have rufous 

 edges and conspicuous white bases, there is no grey on the head 

 or back, and the lower parts are buffy white with rufous-brown 

 longitudinal streaks ; the dark marks on the tail are much nar- 

 rower than the spaces between and often indistinct. 



End of both mandibles black ; base of bill, cere, and gape orange- 

 yellow ; irides bright yellow ; legs and feet the same. 



Length about 17; tail 7'5 ; wing 13; tarsus 2-1; bill from 

 gape 1*3. 



Distribution. Eastern Asia from Japan and China to the 



