BUtEONlN^. 89 



tip, which is black ; tail pale rufous, or rufous grey, with a darker 

 subterminal band, and some indistinct bars, and ashy white below ; 

 beneath, the throat is white, with dusky streaks, and the rest 

 of the under parts fulvous white, with dusky and rufous blotches, 

 forming a sort of gorget on the breast, and a more or less dark 

 abdominal band ; tibial feathers dusky rufous. 



The adult bird is yellowish brown above, and on the throat and 

 breast, purest on the head and breast, and many of the feathers, 

 especially of the back, with dark centres, where the lighter tint 

 indeed is nearly lost ; quills, with the outer webs, greyish, the inner 

 webs blackish from the tip to the deep sinuosity, white beyond ; 

 wings with a large white patch beneath, formed chiefly by the 

 inner webs of the quills ; tail reddish or cinnamon grey, indistinctly 

 barred ; belly, vent, thigh coverts, and under tail coverts, deep 

 auburn brown, the line of demarcation between this and the 

 lighter tint of the breast, abrupt and strongly marked. 



Cere greenish yellow ; irides golden yellow ; legs dirty yellow. 

 Length, male, 23 to 24 inches ; extent 56 ; wing 16 to 17 ; tail 9 ; 

 tarsus 3^ ; bill at gape 2. — Female 25 to 27 inches ; wing 18 to 

 20 ; tail 10 to 11. The wings nearly reach to the end of the tail. 

 Weight, male 2^ lbs ; female 3 J. In some the eye is dun or 

 brownish yellow. It is large, and the eyebrows are very pro- 

 minent. 



This buzzard has been considered to be the same as B. rufinuSj 

 Kiippell, of North-eastern Africa, and the South-east of Europe ; 

 and it is certainly very closely allied to it. Bonaparte, however, 

 puts it as a distinct species, and in this he is followed, I believe, 

 by our best ornithologists. 



This handsome Buzzard is found throughout all the northern 

 and central parts of India, frequenting the plains and low 

 cultivated lands, especially irrigated fields, edges of tanks, &c. 

 I have met with it in the Deccan, and in Central India, but most 

 abundant in the Gangetic valley above Dinapore, It is also found 

 in Nepal, and all the sub-Himalayan regions. It generally sits on 

 a low tree, and watches for rats, frogs, lizards, and large insects, 

 which it pounces qp from its perch, or rarely takes a hunt over 



M 



