460 



Ivby, it is said by Favier to be " resident, and found in considerable numbers on all sides. Their 

 food consists of rats, mice, snakes, frogs, large insects, leverets, rabbits, and chickens. They nest 

 on rocks, laying two eggs (in March and April) of a white or greenish-white colour, spotted with 

 yellowish or reddish brown ; sometimes these spots completely cover the thick end of the egg. 

 The males sit in their turn. The hides are yellow ; the third and fourth quill-feathers, equal in 

 length, are the longest in the wing. Twenty-four eggs of this Buzzard," continues Favier, " have 

 passed through my hands." To which Colonel Irby himself adds the following notes : — " On the 

 26th of April, 1871, we found a nest on the top of a very tall olive-tree in a santo or burial-ground 

 in Garbia, shooting both the old birds, one off the nest, which was like a Kite's, and was lined 

 with fresh olive-twigs and rags. It contained two eggs on the point of hatching ; they were of a 

 white colour, thinly marked all over with very small, short, reddish black lines, and were more 

 rounded than average eggs of either of the Kites, though I have seen eggs of both Milvus ictinus 

 and M. migrans very like them. In this santo, perhaps two acres in extent, were some of the 

 tallest olive-trees I have ever seen, on which were, besides the Buzzard's nest, one of the common 

 Kite, with young, two of the Black Kite ; and in a bramble-brake at the edge was a nest of Marsh- 

 Harriers, with young. The day before, we took Black-Kite's eggs quite fresh, which shows the 

 relative time of nesting of the above-named species. I always saw this Buzzard in wooded 

 districts, like our common Buzzard, -generally sitting on the bough of some dead tree; and this 

 makes me wonder that Favier did not mention it as nesting on trees. On the Spanish side of 

 the Straits I never met with it ; nor have I seen a specimen which could be referred to this 

 species. It is slightly smaller in size, and easily recognized within a hundred yards or so, from 

 the reddish colour. The immature birds would be harder to distinguish without handling them." 



Its range in Africa is very extensive, as it has been found as far south as the Cape colony. 

 Messrs. Shelley and Buckley record it (Ibis, 1872, p. 292) from the Gold Coast as "plentiful in 

 the more wooded districts, where they frequent the high trees." Andersson found it in Damara 

 Land, and states that it is " not uncommon in Ondonga, but is very wary." Mr. E. L. Layard 

 speaks of it as being " not common, but widely distributed," in South Africa. Its note, he says, 

 "is a weak stridulous scream. It frequents open country dotted with jungle, and is found also 

 in the forest about George and the Knysna." According to Dr. G. Hartlaub (J. f. O. 1860, 

 p. 11) it has also been obtained from Madagascar. 



To the eastward it is met with as far as India. Mr. Blanford did not meet with it in Persia, 

 where, he says, he fully believes that it occurs ; and Dr. Jerdon states that it has been noted 

 from there. He adds that it is rare in India, where it has probably been overlooked by collectors, 

 and occurs throughout that country and Ceylon. 



Mr. Hume states (Rough Notes, p. 270) that, so far as he knows, "it is confined to the 

 Neilgherries and Himalayas, and appears to be not uncommon anywhere in these hills from 

 Murree to Darjeeling." 



Bespecting the habits of this Buzzard I find but little recorded ; and beyond what I give 

 above I find nothing of interest except the following notes of Messrs. Alleon and Vian, trans- 

 lated from the Rev. Zool. 1869, p. 369. These gentlemen, who discovered that this species is 

 found not uncommonly in Turkey, write as follows : — " These Buzzards are much more numerous 

 on both migrations than the common Buzzard, and at the time when the grasshoppers arrive in 



