184 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Subfamily BUTEONIN^. 
Genus BUTEO, Cuvier. 
560. BUTEO PLUMIPES. 
THE HARRIER BUZZARD. 
Circus plumipes, Hodgs. m Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81. Buteo plumipes, Hodgs. 
P. Z. 8. 1845, p. 37 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 91 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 285 ; 
Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 180, pi. vii. fig. 1 ; Bl. Sj- Wald. B. Burnt, p. 64; 
Hume, S. F. iv. p. S58 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1876, p. 369 ; id. S. F. v. p. 65 ; Hume, 
S. F. V. p. 347 ; Zegge, Birds Ceylon, p. 31 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82 ; Scully, S. F. 
viii. p. 225 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 180. Buteo japonicus, apud Hume, S. F. iii. 
p. 30. 
Description. — Everywhere dull smoky brown^ the wing-coverts and 
scapulars lighter; primaries dark brown, inclining to purplish brown 
towards the tips ; the inner web bufFy white barred with brown ; shafts 
whitish j secondaries paler brown like the back ; tail uniform smoky 
brown, with whitish shafts and pale whity-brown tips, showing under 
certain lights obsolete remains of light cross bars, which are still distinctly 
indicated on the inner web and under surface of the tail, which is ashy 
white ; lores whitish ; sides of face and of neck as well as the entire under 
surface of the body, including the under wing- and tail- coverts, uniform 
smoky brown, somewhat washed with rufous on the sides of the face and 
throat. (Sharpe.) 
Length 20 inches, tail 9, wing 15 '4, tarsus 3, bare part of tarsus in front 
I'l to the root of the middle toe, on the side to sole of foot 1, culmen I "25. 
(Sharpe.) 
I have not ventured to investigate the difficult group of the Buzzards, 
and I therefore gladly avail myself of Mr. Sharpens description of Mr. 
Hodgson^s type of jB. plumipes, the species with which Mr. Hume identifies 
Buzzards procured in Burmah. I have never seen any Buzzards from that 
country, and therefore any investigations carried out in England, in the 
absence of Burmese birds, would have been o£ little use so far as the object 
of this work was concerned. 
The Buzzards vary immensely in the colour of the plumage, and I do 
not think that any number of elaborate descriptions would enable the bird 
to be recognized in all its stages. The Buzzards have the upper half of the 
tarsus feathered, and the whole of the naked part behind is scaled, not 
reticulated. This character is possessed by the Harriers and Hawks ; but 
the Buzzards may be distinguished from both these groups by their massive 
make and by their enormously thick short tarsus. 
