254 ]\rr. W. L. Sclater on the [Ibis, 



Minor and Persia, east to western Siberia and Turkestan, 

 south in winter to Africa from the Sudan to the Cape 

 Province, also to the hills of southern India and Ceylon. 

 Once in England. 



Tliis species has up till recently been known as Buten 

 desert oriiiti, but as Ilartert (Vcig. pal*. Faun. ii. p. 112(5) has 

 clearly sliown, Daudin's name is inapplicable, as neither the 

 ])late nor the figure given by Lcvaillant, on which Daudin's 

 name is based, can i)e identified with the Steppe Buzzard 

 as it has been generally called. Hartert proposed to adopt 

 Brehm's Buteo anceps, a name founded on an example from 

 the upper Blue Nile. Recently, however, when cataloguing 

 the Steppe Buzzards in the British Museum I came across 

 an old dismounted specimen which I unhesitatingly believe 

 to be the original of Jcrdon's plate in the ' Illustrations of 

 Indian Ornithology/ atul must be regarded as the type 

 of Ihiteo rufiventer. It is undoubtedly an example of the 

 l)ird which has been hitherto known as B. desertoriim. 

 Moi'covcr, there are in the Museum several additional 

 examples from the Nilgiri hills obtained subsequently by 

 Hume's collector^ Davison (see ' Stray Feathers,' x. pp. 159, 

 338). 



Under these circumstances I see no reason why the Steppe 

 Buzzard should not in future be known as Buteo buteo 

 rufiventer. 



Buteo oreophilus, 



Buteo oreophilus Hartert & Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 

 xxii. 1914, p. 31 : Koritscha, Djam Djam, S. Abyssinia. 



Dhtr. Mountains of central and north-eastern Africa. 

 There are examples in the British Museum from Buwenzori^ 

 Kenia, and Kilimanjaro. 



This sjjecies, recently described by Hartert and Neumann, 

 appears to be a ([uite distinct form characterized by the 

 absence of rufous from the plumage, which is dusky broMu 

 slightly varied with white on the bases and edges of some of 

 the feathers; below white, spotted and streaked with brown. 

 The tail is brown with six to eight narrow bands of paler. 



