538 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED ON THB 'NILGHIRIS 
I may mention that .I observed that this species in the 
Wynaad appeared to frequent by preference those tracts of 
country covered with bamboo, and interspersed with grassy 
glades, with here and there isolated trees or. small clumps of 
these. When I observed it near any extensive forest it was on 
‘the outskirts. . 
?47.—Buteo plumipes, Hodgs. The Harrier Buzzard. 
I saw a specimen, a Buzzard, in the dark fuliginous plumage 
of plumipes in a swamp within the station of Ootacamund, 
but having no gun with me at the time I failed to secure if. 
In former years, when resident on the Nilghiris, I have seen 
Buzzards on several occasions, but the genus is rare on the 
Nilghiris. 
? 47 bis.—Buteo desertorum. The African Buazard: 
Male.—Bramagherries, 16th April 1882. ‘Length, 19-0; ex- 
panse, 44-0; tail, 7-4; wing, 13-4; tarsus, 2°6; bill from gape, 
15 ; weight, 1:25 lbs. Legs, feet, cere, gape yellow; claws and 
bill black ; lower mandible plumbeous at base; irides whitey 
brown. : 
. This, the only specimen of a Buzzard that I. obtained, has 
been referred to desertorum by Mr. Hume, in whose view Mr. 
Gurney concurs.* The type of colouration more nearly 
approaches that of plumipes than of desertorum. I have, how- 
ever, I should note, never seen a specimen of desertorum, and 
judge entirely by the figures in Le Vaillant, Bree and Dresser. 
‘Among our large series of plumipes there are several which 
very closely approach my specimen in colouration. But what 
has led to our assigning the bird to desertorum rather than to 
plumipes is its size, the wing measuring only 13:4. 
In 34 specimens of plumipes, the measurements of which are 
recorded by Mr. Hume (S. F., [V., 361, and V., 348), the wing 
varies from 14°3 in the smallest male to 15:9 in the largest 
female. In our museum is quite a young bird from Cashmere 
with the nestling down still adhering to the feathers, and in 
this the wing is 14°, although its bill, tarsi and feet are smaller 
than in my specimen. 
51.—Circus macrurus, S. G. Gm. The Pale Harrier. 
This Harrier is a cold weather visitant, only, to the Nilghiris, 
coming in about the end of October, and I have seen it as late 
as the last week in April. 
It is very abundant, frequenting, by preference, the cultivated 
land about the Badaga villages, but also found commonly about 
* Vide ante, p. 159. 
