42 W. T. Blairfbrd— -Zoology of SiJc/cm. [No. 1, 



excellently with Hodgson's original description. The following is a full 

 account. 



Plumage throughout, ahove and below, dark umber brown, a little 

 darker, if anything, below than above, slightly paler on the rump, faintly 

 glossed above with purple except on the head. Shafts of the body feathers 

 black. Lores covered hi front with white feathers, behind with radiating black 

 hairs. About the nape there are some faint rufous edgings to the feathers ; 

 a few white spots appear on the scapularies, only to be detected by turning 

 back the upper feathers. Primary quills very dark for a considerable length 

 near the tip, paler, with transverse white or whitish bars near the base, shafts 

 white at the base, becoming black at the tip only. Secondaries a little paler 

 than the primaries and with white or whitish bars. Under ^wing coverts 

 umber. Tail feathers dark umber, rather indistinctly barred with pale umber, 

 above pale with white hairs beneath, the bars becoming obsolete towards the 

 base, about one and a half inches at the tip of each feather unbarred, 

 extreme tip pale. 



Iris pale brown ; bill black towards the tip, pale towards the base ; cere, 

 gape and legs yellow, claws black, The first four primaries deeply emargi* 

 nate on the inner webs, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, but not the first, on the 

 outer. 



The principal dimensions were taken on the fresh carcase, only those 

 of the beak, tarsi and toes are from the skin. Length 20 inches, wing 16, 

 tail 9'25, tarsus 2*9 feathered in front for l - 5, mid toe without claw 1*5, 

 its claw measured round curve 0.9, outer toe 1, its claw 0.65, inner toe 

 - 95, its claw 1 - 15, hinder toe 0"8, its claw 1'15, bill straight from end of 

 cere 0'88, round curve 1, from gape L47. The 4th primary is the longest, 

 the 3rd shorter by - 2 in one wing, - 35 in the other, 2nd by L6, 1st by 

 4 - 75 in one wing, 4"4 in the other. The closed wings reached to within one 

 inch of the end of the tail. 



The tarsi have 9 or 10 broad scutes behind for the lower half of then* 

 length, above this are hexagonal scales. In front are hexagonal scales only, 

 a little larger than those at the sides above, but becoming small near the feet. 



The discovery of a second specimen of this buzzard, coinciding in color- 

 ation with that first obtained by Mr. Hodgson, renders it far more probable 

 that this is really a good species, and not a mere accidental phase of plumage 

 of some other. 



Of the Indian species to which it might be referred, Buteo ferox (B. 

 canescens, Hodgs.) is out of the cmestion, being much larger. B. desertorum 

 (B. rtcfiveiiter, Jerdon), which comes nearest in size, is distinguished by its 

 rufous colouring, especially on the underparts, of which there is not a trace 

 in B. plumipes. B. vulgaris, which is now excluded from the Indian fauna, 

 does not appear to assume so uniform a plumage. Moreover, on comparing 



