HONE Y-B UZZARD. 



195 



margined with a lighter tint, and having a dark median streak ; and the tail pale 

 brown, with the extreme tip whitish, and marked by three dark transverse bars. 

 Beneath, the plumage is white, narrowly streaked with brown, such streaks 

 expanding on the sides of the body into spade-shaped markings. As in our figure, 

 there may be some white on the tips of the wing-feathers. The iris is straw- 

 coloured, the beak black, and the feet yellow with black claws. Young birds, as 

 shown in the lower figure of our illustration, are generally brown or yellowish 

 brown, with the shafts of the feathers distinctly streaked with black, and the 

 under-parts more rufous than the upper surface. The ashy brown tail is broadly 

 tipped with huffish white, and is crossed by two distinct chocolate bars, one near 



HONEY-BUZZARDS (i nat. size). 



the end and the other near the middle, between which are a number of imperfect 

 dark bars. The iris is hazel. The length of the adult bird is about 25 1 inches, 

 so that it may be compared in size to a kite. The honey-buzzard ranges 

 over the greater part of Europe, and probably occurs in several parts of 

 Northern Asia, as it has been recorded from Japan and near Pekin. In Sweden 

 it breeds within the Arctic Circle, and it has frequently nested in England. 

 During the winter it migrates to Arabia, Africa, and Madagascar. In India it is 

 replaced by the crested honey-buzzard (P. lotilorhynchus) ; a species ranging 

 through the Malayan region, distinguished by the crest of the adults, and re- 

 markable for its great individual variation, some individuals being light fulvous, 

 while others are nearly black. A third species (P. celehensis) inhabits Celebes. 



