BUTEONIN^E. 43 



p, 88 ; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 447 ; 

 Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 374 ; Murray's Verte- 

 brate Zoology of Sind, p. 85 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central 

 India; Ibis, 1885, p. 57 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 274. 

 THE LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD. 



Chuhamar, Hin. 



<?. Length, 2075 to 23'5 ; expanse, 50*25 to 59 ; wing, 16 to 

 17'6 ; tail, 9'25 to 10'5 ; tarsus, 3'2 to 375 ; bill from gape, T8 

 to 2. 



?. Length, 2275 to 25 ; expanse, 56*25 to 62; wing, 1S'2 to 

 1975 ; tail, 1018 to 1975 ; tarsus, 3'2 to 3'8 ; bill from gape, 1*9 

 to 2-08. 



Cere greenish-yellow ; irides pale dun; legs pale yellow. 

 Young : head, neck, throat, breast, and belly white, some of 

 the feathers streaked with brown, and dashed with buff; back 

 and wing-coverts pale yellowish-brown, some of the feathers edged 

 with rufous ; quills dusky-brown, whitish on their inner webs, and 

 the secondaries barred ; tail with the outer webs reddish-white, 

 inner webs dirty- whitish, barred with brown. 



In a more advanced state of plumage the head and neck are 

 rufescent-brown, with a whitish eye-streak ; back and wing-coverts 

 darker brown, with a tinge of purple in the freshly-moulted bird, 

 and many of the feathers edged with rufous ; quills greyish on 

 their outer web, with a dusky tip, and whitish internally, except 

 at the tip, which is black ; tail pale rufous, or rufous-grey, with a 

 darker subterminal band, and some indistinct bars, and ashy-white 

 below ; beneath, the throat is white, with dusky streaks, and the 

 rest of the under parts fulvous- white, with dusky and rufous 

 blotches, forming a sort of gorget on the breast and a more or less 

 dark abdominal band ; tibial feathers dusky -rufous. 



The adult bird is yellowish-brown above, and on the throat and 

 breast, purest on the head and breast, and many of the feathers, 

 especially of the back, with dark centres, where the lighter tint 

 indeed is nearly lost ; quills, with the outer webs, greyish, the 

 inner webs blackish from the tip to the deep sinuosity, white be- 

 yond ; wings with a large white patch beneath, formed chiefly by 

 the inner webs of the quills ; tail reddish or cinnamon-grey, indis- 

 tinctly barred ; belly, vent, thigh-coverts, and under tail-coverts 

 deep auburn- brown ; the line of demarcation between this and the 

 lighter tint of the breast abrupt and strongly marked. 



The plumage of this handsome Buzzard varies considerably in 

 all its different stages, and this has led to its being described 

 under numerous synonyms. It still remains a vexata quczstio as to 

 which is its adult plumage. The difficulty, as Mr. Hume observes 

 in his Scrap Book, is the changes of the upper and lower surfaces 

 vary in different specimens, some change first on the upper sur- 

 face others on the lower, so that it is difficult to assign any chrono- 

 logical value to these changes. 

 The Long-legged Buzzard occurs, as a cold weather visitant, 



