FALCONID^J BUTEO 333 



behind a small tree about a third of the way down a krantz 60 feet 

 in height ; it consisted of a platform of sticks nearly flat on the top, 

 and on it were lying a few dead rats and some green twigs. It 

 contained one young one just hatched and covered with white down, 

 and an egg with the inmate beginning to chip out. 



Eggs in the South African Museum are somewhat coarse in 

 texture ; they are dull white in ground colour more or less blotched 

 with yellowish or rufous-brown, and measure 2'40 x 1*85. 



532. Buteo augur. Augur Buzzard. 



Buteo augur, Eiipp. N. Wirb. Vog. p. 38, pi. 16 (1835), Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. M. i, p. 175 (1874) ; id. cd. La-yard's B. S. Afr. p. 28 (1875) ; 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1876, p. 467 ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 592 (1901). 



Description. Adult male. Above, black ; pure white below- and 

 on the sides of the neck ; cheeks and ear-coverts black streaked 

 with white ; quills black at the tip, ashy-grey towards the base, the 

 secondaries paler and more silvery, all barred with black; tail- 

 coverts rufous with black tips, tail bright tawny with a black patch 

 towards the tip of the outer web ; under wing-coverts white. 



Iris yellowish-brown ; cere and feet yellow. 



Length 20 ; wing 16-3 ; tail 7-5 ; culmen 1-55 ; tarsus 3-6. The 

 female is larger ; wing 18-75 ; tail 9*0. 



The young birds are brown above with white streaks on the 

 nape, tail ashy-brown with a whity-brown tip crossed by twelve or 

 thirteen bands of darker ; below, creamy-buff much marked with 

 brown throughout, thighs ochreous-buff sometimes streaked with 

 darker. 



There is also a completely black stage with rufous tail which is 

 considered by Sharpe to be the plumage of a very old bird, by others 

 to be that of a young bird or a melanistic variety. 



Distribution. This Buzzard is a resident in north eastern Africa; 

 it has also been noticed in German east Africa and Angola. Mr. 

 G. A. K. Marshall writes me that he has an example of this species 

 in the black plumage obtained close to Salisbury in Mashonaland. 

 This constitutes its only occurrence within our limits. 



533. Buteo desertorum. Steppe Buzzard. 



Le Rougri, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. i. p. 77, pi. 17 (1799). 

 Falco desertorum. Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 49 

 (1858) [Knysna] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 361 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 



