l6o TlMEHRI. 
white on the under surface. The tail is banded with 
four or five dark bars. 
This is the first record of this species from the colony. 
It does not seem to occur commonly on the coast, being 
apparently distributed along the bushy margins of the 
rivers and creeks in the interior. 
Three species of the genus Buteo are recorded from 
the colony, but one only B, albicaudatus seems to be of 
common occurrence. This is a large bird of a length of 
about 22 inches, easily recognised by its long wings 
reaching beyond the tail, and its black upper surface 
broken by a large brownish red patch on the shoulder of 
the wing. The sides of the forehead are white, and the 
rump, tail, breast and belly are white or yellowish, nar- 
rowly banded with black, grey and reddish-brown. The 
throat is black, and the tail bears a broad black band 
nearly at the tip. 
This bird is common all over the country, but espe- 
cially so about the low bush near the savannah streams, 
such as on the Abary districts, where it is often seen 
floating in the air, over the flooded or swampy parts 
especially. Like the harrier, it goes by the common 
name of " snake hawk," though (l big chicken hawk" is 
also just as commonly used. 
The two other buzzards (B. abbreviates^ and B. 
unicolor) are not represented in the Museum collection 
and they are quite unknown to me. The former, ac- 
cording to the description given in Sharpe's Catalogue, 
may be distinguished from B. albicaudatus, by the 
prevailing black of the plumage above and below, though 
white blotches are visible here and there owing to 
the concealed white bases to the feathers. The tail 
