BUTEONm^. 87 



Gen. BuTEO, Cuv. 



Char. — Bill short, sloping from the base, tip hooked, margin of 

 the upper mandible very slightly festooned ; nostrils large, oval, 

 transverse ; gape wide ; lores clothed with hair-like feathers ; wings 

 long, with the 3rd and 4th quills sub-equal and longest, 5th nearly 

 as long ; the inner webs of the first four quills strongly notched ; 

 tail moderate, or short, even or rounded ; tarsi rather long, 

 feathered on the upper tliird or further ; tarsal scales broad, 

 transverse; toes with four or five large scales at their extremity 

 only ; lateral toes very unequal ; all the toes short. 



The buzzards have the head large and depressed, and a stout, 

 massive body ; their flight is tolerably sharp for a time, though not 

 sustained so for any length. They feed on insects, reptiles, 

 young or feeble birds, and small mammals, which they pounce on 

 generally from a perch on a tree, occasionally when questing. 



44. Buteo vulgaris, Bechstein. 



Blyth, Cat. 118 — Falco buteo, Lin. — B. communis, Cuv. — F. 

 cinereus, Gmel. — PI. Enl. 419 — B. rufiventer, Jerdon, Suppl. 

 21 bis — Jeed., 111. Ind. Orn., pi. 27 — Tang pangtiong, Lepch. 



The Common Buzzard. 



Descr. — Young, brown above, the feathers centred darker: wino- 

 dark brown ; tail light yellowish brown, with dark bands ; beneath 

 more or less whitish, or yellowish white, streaked with brown on 

 the throat, breast, belly, and thigh coverts, which are almost brown ; 

 the quills beneath are white, except near the tip ; the tail whitish 

 grey, faintly barred. 



The adult is darker brown above, glossed with purple ; the 

 wings dark brown and barred ; the tail light grey, or reddish grey, 

 with seven or eight narrow brown bars, and a broader one near 

 the tip ; beneath brown, banded with white on the breast. In 

 intermediate plumage there is more or less Avhite on the throat, 

 and the abdomen and thigh coverts are banded with white, or with 

 white and rufous. 



A specimen shot on the Neilgherries was pale brown above, 

 each feather edged with rufous, more especially on the head and 



