467 



from the Volga. Dr. Radde includes it in his work on South-eastern Siberia, and gives a some- 

 what detailed comparison of three specimens from Mongolia, with examples from Sarepta ; but 

 he states that his birds had the tarsi much more feathered than those from Sarepta; and this 

 and other details given by him make it appear improbable that he really obtained true B.ferox, 

 and I think it very possible that the birds he procured were B. hemilasius, Temm. et Schl., 

 which species has lately been sent by Dr. Dybowski from Dauria. 



In its habits the present species much resembles the common Buzzard, but is, if any thing, 

 a more sluggish bird. It is said to be, as a rule, a desert-bird, frequenting for the most part 

 the dry desert and bare treeless steppes, where it feeds on small mammals ; and in localities 

 where there is water, and frogs are to be found, it is stated to feed on them, and also on lizards 

 and even snakes. Dr. Thienemann states (/. c.) that " it inhabits during the summer the bare 

 steppes which skirt the Lower Volga on either side. It arrives in the neighbourhood of Sarepta 

 late in March, and spreads over the treeless steppes, where it feeds both on small mammals and 

 snakes and lizards, for which it watches, sitting on any small elevation in the steppe." Von 

 Heuglin met with it in North-east Africa, frequenting bare isolated rocks, date-groves, on 

 solitary sycamore or baobab trees, in the fields, on the sand bars, and also amongst ruins, or in 

 the villages, in which last places it makes great havoc amongst the domestic poultry and pigeons. 

 It is, he adds, very shy, but can be shot if one can find out where it roosts, as it regularly uses 

 the same roosting-place. 



It must breed in numbers near Sarepta, as so many of its eggs are annually sent from there. 

 Dr. Thienemann says that it places its nest on the sides of the deep rifts which are found 

 throughout the steppes. The nest is carelessly constructed of dried stems and grass, and lined 

 with hair, wool, or felt. About the middle of April the eggs, from three to four, or rarely five, 

 in number, are deposited. Canon Tristram, who met with it breeding in Palestine, writes (Ibis, 

 1865, p. 255) as follows: — "We found the nests both on trees and in rocks, generally in the 

 latter. The first nest we took was on Mount Carmel, on a rocky ledge easy of access, on March 

 22nd ; and it contained three eggs quite fresh and beautifully marked. The last fresh eggs we 

 found were a pair near Mount Tabor, on May 1st. The eggs are of course larger than, but no 

 way differently coloured from, those of the common Buzzard. The nest is large, but more neatly 

 made than those of the Eagles, and well lined with woollen rags and the soft withered leaves 

 of bulrushes and flags, and plastered with mud." 



I possess a tolerably large series of the eggs of this Buzzard, all collected near Sarepta, and 

 obtained through Mr. Moschler, except one from Smyrna, taken by Dr. Krtiper. In general 

 colour and markings they resemble those of the common Buzzard, being white, clouded and 

 blotched with red, but are, as a rule, less richly coloured than the eggs of that species, most 

 being white faintly clouded with pale red ; one or two, however, are tolerably closely blotched 

 with rich brownish red surface-spots, and here and there marked with faint purplish underlying 

 shell-blotches. In size they measure from 2- 4 % by Iff to 2ff by lf^ inch. The precise dates 

 of those from Sarepta are not given ; but the one obtained by Dr. Kriiper was taken on the 18th 

 April, 1872. 



The specimens figured are an adult male from Sarepta and a young bird which cannot have 



o 



