42 W. T. Blanford — Zoology of SikJcim. [No. 1, 
excellently with Hodgson’s original description. The following is a full 
account. 
Plumage throughout, above 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 in 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 P5, mid too without claw 1’5, 
its claw measured round curve 0.9, outer toe 1, its claw 0.65, inner toe 
0 95, its claw 1T5, hinder toe 0’8, its claw 1'15, bill straight from end of 
cere 0'88, round curve 1, from gape 1'47. The 4th primary is the longest, 
the 3rd shorter by 0'2 in one wing, 0'35 in the other, 2nd by l - 6, 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 their 
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 lirst 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 question, being much larger. B. desertorum 
(B. ru/lventer, Jordon), which comes nearest hr size, is distinguished by its 
rufous colouring, especially on the underparts, of which there is not a trace 
in B. plimipes. B. vulgaris, which is now excluded from the Indian fauna, 
does not appear to assume so uniform a plumage. Moreover, on comparing 
