BUTKO DK.SKRTOttUM. 169 



entirely subsist on earthworms. Yet this valuable \ermin-killing 

 bird has been in the British Isles nearly extirpated by foolish 

 and ignorant gaine-|treservers. 



Varies so much in plumage as to defy description. Legs and toes short, 

 :nid bare of feathers ; legs about, ij inches long. 



Very old birds :irc sometimes very dark bluish black above, and only 

 slightly marked with light markings on hrea-t. 



Adult*. Tail brown, barred with twelve or thirteen bands of darker 

 brown. 



Young. Upper breast white, with only a few spots ; throat brown, with 

 narrow white streaks; tail ashy brown, crossed \\ith leu liars of darker 

 brown. Length 20-2;} inches. 



185. Buteo desertorum (Dan Jin). Rufous Buzzard. 



Moorish. Khabbas (great hunter, mighty sportsman). 



" Resident near Tangier, and found in considerable numbers 

 on all sides. Their food consists of rats, mice, snakes, frogs, 

 large insects, leverets, rabbits, and chickens. They nest on 

 rocks, laying two eggs (in March and April) of a white or 

 greenish-white colour, spotted with yellowish or reddish brown ; 

 sometimes these spots completely cover the thick end of the egg. 

 The males sit in their turn. The irides are yellow ; the third 

 and fourth quill-feathers, equal in length, are the longest in the 

 wing. Twenty-four eggs of this Buzzard have passed through 

 my hands." Favier. 



This red-coloured Buzzard is, as above stated, common in 

 Morocco. On the 26th of April, 1871, we found a nest on the 

 top of a very tall olive-tree in a santo or burial-ground in Garbia, 

 shooting both the old birds, one off the nest, which was like a 

 Kile's and lined with fresh olive-twigs and rags. It contained 

 two eggs on the point of hatching; they were of a white colour, 

 thinly marked all over with very small, short, reddish-black lines, 

 and were more rounded than average eggs of either of the Kites, 

 though I have seen eggs of both lied and Black Kite very like 

 them. 



