6 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



Dr. Stoliczka writes in Ms diary : — ^^ At Igliiz Yar I also shot a Buteo, apparently 

 B. plumipes, which I had formerly seen several times, but could not get a shot at. It is a 

 very wary bird." 



Dr. Scully shot three females at Yarkand in January. He gives the measurements and 

 soft parts. According to him, it is '' common near Yarkand during the winter. A dark 

 specimen was called ' Kara Sa/ the Black Sd, but this species was really not discriminated 

 from the preceding species (_B. ferox). B. plumipes was never met with in the plains after 

 the winter was fairly over." 



Dr. Scully also records the Common Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris) as common during the 

 winter in the neighbourhood of Yarkand; but the Hume Collection did not contain a 

 specimen, and I rather question the identitication. 



8. Buteo peeox. 



Buteo ferox (Gm.), Sharpe, Oat. B. Brit. Mns. i. p. 176, pi. 8 (1874); Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 113 



(1876); Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 124 (1876) ; Wardl. Earns. Ibis, 1880, p. 47; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 42; 



Scully, ibid. p. 420 ; C. Swinb. Ibis, 1882, p. 99 ; Severtz. Ibis, 1883, p. 53 ; Zarudn. Ois. Transcasp. 



p. 26 (1885) ; Scully, J. A. S. Beng. Ivi. p. 78 (1887) ; Badde, Ornis, iii. p. 470; Sbarpe, Trans. 



Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. pt. 3, p. m (1889) ; Menzbier, Orn. Turkest. p. 204 (1889). 

 Buteo leucurus, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 63 (1873) ; Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 103. 

 Buteo aquilinus, Hume & Henders. Lahore to Yark. p. 175 (1873) . 



Ad. Yarkand, November 8, 1873. 



No. 1172. Kashghar, December 21, 1873. '' Sa." 



No. 1406. Ighiz Yar, March 22, 1874. 



No. 1729. Kizil, May 19, 1879. 



Dr. Henderson procured a specimen of the sooty form of this Buzzard at Dhurmsala, 

 near Saidabad, on the road from Kashmir to the plains. 



Mr. Hume gives some notes on the plumages of the species. 



Dr. Scully shot specimens near Yarkand in January and February, and he gives details of 

 the soft parts and measurements. He says that it was very common in the plains of Eastern 

 Turkestan during the vrinter, and, in common with the other two species of Buzzard foimd 

 in the country, disappeared in the spring. How well its specific name of ferox is justified is 

 illustrated by the following note of Dr. Scully :— *' I kept one of these Buzzards alive for 

 some time, and found its disposition anything but gentle ; when I went up to it it would 

 throw itself on its back and strike out violently with its claws. It got loose one iiio-ht in a 

 room in which I had a number of other birds, and committed dreadful havoc, killing at 

 least half a dozen birds, among the number a Kestrel. The Yarkandi shikaris called this 

 Buzzard ' Tokhmak Sa ' (the Mallet ' Sa ') ; but I do not believe they could really distinguish 

 it from the other species of Buzzard." 



Dr. Severtzow says :—" This species feeds on different Arvicolce which are common on 

 the Pamir and innumerable on the Alai. It w^as seen near Ean-Kul in July and Auf^^ust ; 

 but I do not know where it breeds. The dark variety of this species {B. aquilinus, Ho'dgs.) 

 is also common enough." 



Subfam. AQUILINjE, 



Genus GYPAETUS. 



9. GyPAETUS I3AEBATUS. 



Gypaetus barhatus (L.) ; Hume & Henders. Lahore to Yark. p. 170 (1873); Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. 

 p. 99 (1873) ; Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 99; Prjev. in Eowley^s Orn. Misc. ii. p. 138 (1877) ; Wardlwa 



