NOTES. 159 
specimens in 1873 to the London Zoo, but of which I have 
hitherto been unable to procure specimens for comparison. 
Mr. J. Srrip writes to say that he flushed a Woodcock in 
one of the Kurrachee gardens, though he was unable to pro- 
cure it, as, owing to the number of men, women, and children 
all around, it was too risky to fire. It will be remembered 
that some winters ago, Major Butler bagged a Woodcock in 
the Lyaree Gardens, Kurrachee. 
THE question of the occurrence of Buteo desertorum in the 
British Asian Empire has been already a good deal discussed 
in this journal (c. f. IV., 359, V. 65, &e.,) and the conclusion 
arrived at both by Mr. Gurney and myself was that Jerdon’s 
B. rufiventer was B. plumipes, and that the occurrence of 
B. desertorum at all in India was extremely doubtful. Now, 
however, while no doubt need be entertained as to the first 
conclusion, it seems almost certain that desertorum does occur, 
as well as plumipes, in the hills of Southern India. 
On the 16th April 1881 my friend Mr. Davison shot a 
small Buzzard on the Brahmagari hills, of which he recorded 
the following particulars :—Male.—Length, 19:0; expanse, 
440; tail, 7:4; wing, 13°4; tarsus, 2°6; bare portion of 
front of tarsus, 1°6; bill from gape, 1°5. Weight, 14 lbs. 
Legs, feet, cere and gape yellow; claws and bill black, 
plumbeous at base of lower mandible ; irides whitey brown. 
Now, with a wing of only 13:4, I could make nothing of 
this but desertorum; it could not be plumipes with a wing 
of only 13:4, and moreover, though it is difficult to describe 
in words, the plumage was unlike that of any of the specimens 
of plumipes that I have examined. 
A very important question of distribution being involved, 
I sent the specimen to my kind friend Mr. Gurney, our last 
appeal when in doubt as to any Raptorial birds, and I now 
subjoin his decision :— 
“ Your curious little Buzzard has reached me safely ; it is, 
I think, either an undescribed species, or an abnormally short- 
winged specimen of B. desertorum. We have 23 specimens 
of B. desertorum in the Norwich Museum, but all of them 
with the wing over 14 inches. The following are the measure- 
ments of one of the smallest, a male, from the Volga :—Wing, 
14:3; tarsus, 2°8; mid-toe, 1-4. 
“ At the same time it will be remembered that at pages 65 
and 66 of Stray Fraruers, Vol. V., I gave measurements 
considerably below this, viz., 13°75, 13°9, 13:8 and 13-7, and 
quoted from Dresser one of only 13°5. 
