BUTEO BUTASTUR 5 1 3 



Culmen 1*8, wing 16'7, tail 9'5, tarsus 3'7 inch ; tarsus feathered to about 2 

 inches from the base of the toes. Female similar but rather larger. 

 Young birds are darker and browner, have the under parts dull rufous 

 striped with blackish brown, and the tail grey barred with blackish brown 

 and slightly marked and tipped with rufous. This species is also subject 

 to melanism, and very dark varieties are sometimes met with. 



Hob. South-eastern Europe, south through Asia Minor and 

 Palestine ; East Africa, south to Nubia and 'Abyssinia ; Central 

 Asia, Persia ; the Himalayas east to Sikhim and N. W. India 

 in winter. 



In general habits it resembles B. vulgaris but is a heavier 

 and more sluggish bird, frequenting open plains and steppes, 

 and feeds on small mammals, lizards, and snakes, or, where 

 there is water, on frogs. Its nest is constructed of grass or 

 flags, lined with hair, wool, or rags, and is generally placed 

 on the ground or on a rock, though occasionally on a tree. 

 The eggs, 3 or 4, occasionally 5 in number, are usually deposited 

 in April are white faintly clouded with reddish, and more 

 or less spotted and blotched with rich brownish red, in size 

 averaging 2'32 by T82. 



BUTASTUR, Hodgson, 1843. 



726. GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLE. 

 BUTASTUR INDICUS. 



Butastur mdicus (Ginel.), Syst. Nat, i. p. 264 (1788) ; Shavpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. i. p. 297 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 365 ; Seebohm,, 

 B. Jap. Emp. p. 196 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 69. 



Sashiba, Hachikuma, Japan. 



ad. (Japan). Head and neck greyish ; sides of forehead and lores 

 white with black bristles ; upper parts brown, the feathers with dark 

 shafts, the nape marked with white ; wing-coverts and secondaries externally 

 more or less marked with rufous ; quills brown, the inner webs reddish 

 brown, tipped with blackish and barred with brown ; tail brown above 

 with blackish cross-bars, and whity brown below ; throat Vhite with one 

 median and two lateral dark stripes ; under parts ashy brown tinged with 

 rufous, the upper breast with a few white spots ; lower breast and abdomen 

 sparsely barred with brown ; under tail-coverts white ; base, of bill and 

 cere orange yellow, the end of the bill black ; legs feet and iris bright yellow. 

 Culmen "1-3, wing 13'0, tail 77, tarsus 2 '2 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. South-eastern Siberia, where it is of rare occurrence in 

 the Ussuri country ; Japan ; China ; Tenasserim ; Malacca ; the 

 Malayan islands south to New Guinea. 



