BUTEO. 393 



bars, paler below, whitish near the shafts and towards the base, 

 sometimes bordered with rufous ; lower parts white, the throat 

 streaked with brown ; upper breast and abdomen with large brown 

 spots irregularly distributed, sometimes edged with rufous ; lower 

 breast as a rule white ; the upper breast, flanks, and thigh-coverts 

 often entirely brown, and sometimes, as in Hodgson's type, the 

 whole breast and abdomen. No rufous or fuliginous phase is 

 known. 



Bill bluish horny ; irides white ; legs and feet wax-yellow 

 (Henderson) : cere greenish yellow ; irides light buff (Shanghai 

 Mus. label). 



Length of a female 25-5 ; tail 10-75 ; wing 19-20 ; tarsus 3-5 ; 

 mid-toe without claw 1*8 ; bill from gape 2. 



Distribution. Eastern Siberia, Japan, and China, a few stragglers 

 finding their way into the Himalayas. There are two Himalayan 

 specimens in the Hume collection one, from Native Sikhim, closely 

 resembling Hodgson's original specimen ; the other, obtained by 

 Dr. Henderson in November on the Pir Panjal range, south of 

 Punch, in Kashmir. At first Hume looked on this bird as a 

 variety of B. ferox, but he subsequently recognized its distinctness. 



1241. Buteo desertorum. The Common Buzzard. 



Falco buteo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 127 (1766). 



Falco desertorum, Daud. Traite, ii, p. 162 (1800). 



Buteo vulgaris, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mam. Birds B. M. p. 10 (1816) ; 

 Blyth, Cat. p. 29 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 87 ; iii, p. 869 ; Blyth, Ibis, 

 1866, p. 244; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 261; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, 

 p. 337 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 186 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 450. 



Buteo desertorum, VieilL Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. iv, p. 478 (1816) ; 

 Gurnet/, Ibis, 1862, p. 362 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 268, partim ; 

 Jerdon, Ibis, ^71, p. 338; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 179; Hume, 

 S. F. x, p. 159 ; Damson, ibid. p. 338. 



Buteo plumipes, Hodgson, P. Z. S. 1845, p. 37 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. 

 xv, p. 2 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 91 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 21 ; 1866, 

 p. 245 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 285; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 340; 

 Blanford, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 41 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 180, 



pi. vii, fig. 1 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 358 ; v, p. 347 ; xi, p. 12 ; id. Cat. 



"~ ~ ~ ~ \ p. 369; id. S. ~ 



Dav. S. F. vi, p. 18; Scully, S. F, viii, p. 225; Lecjge, Birds Ceyl. 



no. 47 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1876, p. 369 ; id. S. F. v, p. 65 ; Hume $ 



p. 31 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 42 ; Scully, ibid. p. 421 ; Reid, S. F. 



x, p. 10 ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 184. 

 Buteo rufiventer, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xiii, p. 165 (1844) ; id. Ill 



Ind. Orn. pi. 27. 

 Falco buteo japonicus, Temm. fy Schl. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 16, pis. vi, 



vi b (1845-50). 

 Buteo japonicus, Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 337 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 30. 



The Common Buzzard and The Harrier Buzzard, Jerdon ; Dang-pang- 

 ti-ong ; Pang-ti-ong-nok, Lepcha. 



Coloration variable. The upper plumage is brown, paler or darker, 

 the feathers more or less dark-shafted and, except on the lower 

 back, generally tipped or edged with rufous, especially on the 



