152 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
brown, mixed with white or feathers margined with whitish ; 
throat brown, streaked with white; quills blackish-brown, the 
tail-feathers tipped with rufouM and only crossed by ten dark 
bars. 
Distribution: Found throughout Europe, except in the 
extreme north, and in Western Asia. 
Habitat: Both open country and in forests. Precipitous 
cliffs. | 
Note —This species is subject to great variation in colour, and also to 
some extent in size. Many old males have very dark brown breasts, 
mottled or spotted with white or yellowish. 
AFRICAN BUZZARD. 
Buteo desertorum (Daud). 
Adult: Zz general appearance more rufous throughout than 
B. vulgaris ; above shaded brown, most of feathers bordered 
with pale brown, and many, especially on back and rump, with 
rufous-brown ; feathers of crown, and sides of face streaked 
with dark brown ; in some old males the fore part of crown is 
whitish, and very sparingly marked with brown; primaries 
nearly black, bordered externally with dull ashy-grey ; central 
tail-feathers reddish-brown, outer rectrices greyish-brown, and 
all barred with darker brown ; under surface of rectrices yellow- 
ish-white, faintly barred with dusky ; under parts creamy-white or 
pale rufous, boldly blotched (on flanks almost barred) with rusty- 
brown ; billand claws bluish-black ; legs and cere yellow ; irides 
brownish-yellow. Length 19 inches ; culmen 1°25; wing 13°5 
tosrs 5. ‘tail 3"2 3 rtdrsts2°7. 
Young: Very nearly resemble some dark forms of JZ. 
vulgaris, but are smaller and more rufous above, also the 
markings on flanks; under parts generally whiter and less 
marked than in adults. : 
Distribution: Inhabits South-eastern Furope, and most 
parts of Africa and India. | 
Habitat: Very similar to B. vulgaris. 
Note.—This species, like the last, is most variable in tint, and occasionally 
the two are scarcely to be distinguished apart, 
