32 
BUTEO PLUMIPES. 
Adult female. Length to front of cere 18 '5 to 19 - 0 inches ; culmenfrom cere0'85 ; wing 15'0 to 16-5 ; tail 7'5 to 9-0 ; 
tarsus 2‘6 to 3-2, bare front of tarsus 09 to 1‘35 ; mid toe 1-5, its claw (straight) 07 ; height of bill at cere 0-4. 
Adidt male. Length to front of cere 18 - 0 to 18 - 5 inches ; wing 13'5 to 15-6 ; tarsus 2"7 to 2-9, bare front of tarsus 09 
to 1-5. 
Ohs. In the series from which the latter measurements are taken is included what appears to be an immature though 
not a very young bird in my own collection, from the south of Ceylon. Its detailed dimensions are : — Length to 
tip of bill 1 8'25 inches ; wing 13'5 ; tail 7 - 25 ; tarsus 3 - 0, bare portion of front of tarsus 1-5 ; mid toe 1*5. 
Iris dull yellowish mingled with brown or light hazel ; cere varying from greenish yellow to yellow ; gape yellow ; 
bill blackish ; legs and feet citron-yellow, claws black. 
Above sepia-brown, dark and uniform on the forehead and back, and pale on the hind neck and greater wing-coverts, 
the feathers more or less margined with rufous mostly on the hind neck, scapulars, and wing-coverts, on the first 
of which the white bases of the feathers show considerably, and there is a dark nuchal patch ; primaries and 
their coverts dark brown, the outer webs of the longer quills washed with greyish, the inner webs white internally 
and crossed with narrow bars of brown ; secondaries paler, dark near the tips and with both webs barred, the 
white portions of the inner webs washed, in some, with rufous ; the lateral feathers of the upper tail-coverts 
broadly margined with rufous and some barred with the same ; tail rufous or brownish rufous, more or less shaded 
with brown, and washed at the margins of the rectrices with greyish, tipped with dull buff, and with a softened 
subterminal baud and a number of narrow bars (incomplete in old birds towards the base) of brown ; lateral 
feathers white internally. 
Lores and a superciliary line blackish, a postorbital and moustachial streak dark brown, the feathers, as on the ear- 
coverts, pale-edged : throat whitish striped with brown ; sides of the neck and chest rufous, in some brown, the 
shafts dark, and the margins of the feathers indented with rufescent whitish, which in some examples is conspi- 
cuous on the centre of the chest ; breast and belly whitish or rufescent white, the feathers dark-shafted and 
barred with brown, in some on the lower breast, while other examples have the breast crossed with a wash of dark 
brown ; lower flanks cinereous brown, greyish in old birds ; thighs rufous, more or less cross-marked with brown ; 
under tail-coverts fulvous, barred with rufous-brown ; under wing whitish, painted down the centre with rufous 
and barred with brown. 
Obs. The above description is taken from a number of examples in the British Museum, and is intended to embodv as 
much as possible the characteristics of the very variable plumage in this species. Scarcely any two specimens are 
alike on the under surface ; the older the bird the more covered with rufous-brown are the lower parts, and the 
less conspicuously barred is the tail. Many individuals exhibit a fuliginous phase, which is thought to be the 
result of old age, and which I will notice here as such, remarking, first of all, that such an example formed the 
type of Hodgson s species, which has been figured in Mr. Sharpe's admirable catalogue of the Accipitres. 
Dark phase in old bird. In this the head, hind neck, and back, together with the wings, are uniform brown; tail dark 
brown, with the bands crossing the feathers completely, the subterminal one much marked ; beneath, almost uniform 
brown, the centre of the breast alone being crossed with paler bands. Iu an example from Etawah the under 
surface is very dark, but the feathers have paler lateral margins, and the under tail-coverts are brownish buff, 
banded like ordinary adult birds, showing thus a remnant of the usual mature plumage, and demonstrating the 
fact that the fuliginous coloration has been a further advance beyond that stage aud is the result of old age. 
Young. Similar to mature birds described above, although scarcely any two specimens are alike. The primaries are 
paler brown, and have not the outer webs washed with ashy; the ground-colour of the upper tail-coverts not so 
pervaded with ashy ; tail very variable, sandy brown, brownish grey, or greyish rufous, plainly barred on the central 
feathers with rather wavy bands of brown, uniting with the darker margins of the feathers, and the inner webs of 
the lateral feathers not so white as in adults. 
Edge of forehead whitish ; cheeks whitish striped* with brown, the moustachial stripe streaked with white ; throat and 
all beneath white or whitish buff ; the chest and fore neck more or less broadly striped with brown, the markings 
coalescing down the sides of the fore neck in some ; sides of the lower breast generally brown, uniting with the 
dark flanks ; thighs fulvous, with brownish-rufous markings, in some showing indications of bars ; abdomen and 
under tail-coverts buff, spotted w ith rufous ; under wing whiter than in the adult, and the primary under-coverts 
" ith less brown on the terminal portions ; basal half of primaries bene'ath pure white. 
