30 A FTRST LIST OF THE 



Since the above was in type, Mr. Oates has sent me the 

 following additional note : — 



" A male in somewhat similar plumage to the one you have 

 already described, but more robust, measured — 



" Length, 29 - 4 ; expanse, 65 ; tail, from vent, 1T5 ; wing, 18*5; 

 bill, 2-05; tarsus, 3 - 8; cere, 0*5 j middle claw, straight, 1*3; 

 hind claw, 1*5 - bill, dark brown; the basal two-thirds of lower 

 mandible, light plumbeous ; cere, a lighter brown than the bill ; 

 iris, light brown, mottled and speckled ; feet and legs, china- 

 white ; claws, black ; loral region, dusky greenish ; eyelid and 

 shelf, plumbeous. 



" This bird is very sluggish and flies heavily/' 



45 bis, — Buteo japonicus, Schlegel. 



A Buzzard from Thayetmyo would certainly be ranked as Buteo 

 vulgaris but for its much smaller size and slightly more feathered 

 tarsi. The tarsi are not feathered quite so far down, nor are the toes 

 quite so short, as in another specimen of japonicus that I possess 

 from Kotegurh, Himalayas; but still they differ sufficiently 

 from vulgaris of Europe, of which I have six good specimens 

 before me to compel me, to assign the bird to japonicus. It is 

 a female, and measured in the flesh 19*5 in length; the wing", 

 143; the tarsus, 2*8 feathered for 1*45; the cere was greenish 

 yellow ; the irides, very pale brown ; the legs and feet, yellowish. 

 It is certainly not ferox in any stage, neither is it, I think, 

 desertorum ; and if not japonicus, (it is far too small for vulgaris,) 

 it must be a new species, and if so, might well stand as 

 burmanicus. I myself am inclined to believe that it is japonicus. 

 It is useless attempting an elaborate description of the plumage ; 

 so far as plumage goes, it exactly resembles some stages of 

 vulgaris, but it has the outer webs of the earlier primaries, 

 especially just above the emarginations, most conspicuously sil- 

 vered to an extent that I have never seen in any specimen of 

 Buteo vulgaris. I may add that the central tail feathers (and 

 indeed all the tail feathers) are very narrow, not above 1*6 

 width at the widest, and exhibit beyond the tips of the upper tail 

 coverts no less than ten well-marked, dark brown, trans- 

 verse bands on a mingled grey and rufous ground, the rufous 

 predominating towards the tips, the grey towards the bases of 

 the feathers. 



Captain Feilden says (for Mr. Oates never appears to have 

 met with the species) : " I found this bird at the edge of the 

 parade ground in tolerably thick-tree jungle with partially 

 cleared underwood. I believe I caught a glimpse of the same 

 bird eighteen months before in very thick fruit-tree jungle with 

 an undergrowth of Pine-apple. The specimen killed had eaten 

 insects. As far as I know, I have never seen any other specimens." 



