blackish; lower abdomen, vent, and under-tail coverts unspotted;
quills dusky greyish, the inner webs white towards the base; tail
above rufous, marked with eight transverse bands of black, underneath
greyish; bill blackish; cere and feet yellow.
Adult female.—Above dusky, the feathers of the hind neck and of
the back margined with rufous, the margins of the wing-covert's
paler; forehead white, streaked with black; nape spot white; below
rufous white, the sides of the breast more decidedly rufous, and
marked with large dusky spots; flanks streaked with dusky; tail
above rufous, the terminal half obsoletely banded, the two bands
before the tip more distinct, below greyish; bill blackish; cere and
feet yellow. •
Since the above was written, Count Salvadori has kindly communicated
the following diagnosis of the species, which has, moreover,
been recently figured in the work on the birds of Bogos by the
Marquis Antinori and himself.
Buteo B. auguri affinis, sed crassitie minori, capite supra ac dorso
summo pulchré rujis, brunneo mixtis; area cervicaU nigricante ;
tectricibus alarum brunneis (nee nigris) ; pectore brunneo ; gula albi-
cante ; abdomine pure alio, maculis subcordatis brunneo-nigris ornato,
prorsus diversus.
Fig. Antin. & Salvad. Yiagg. Bogos, tav. I.
26. B uteo desertorum:. Rufous Buzzard.
This bird is not common in the Cape Colony, but appears to be
widely distributed. I t frequents open country dotted with jungle,
and is found also in the forests about George and the Knysna.
Yictorin procured it in the latter district in August. It appears
to be absent in the eastern districts, as neither Mr. Rickard met
with it near Port Elizabeth nor has Mr.. Ayres procured it in Natal.
The late Mr. Andersson, however, states that it is not uncommon in
Ondonga, and Señor Anchieta obtained it at Caconda in Benguela.
A specimen from the province of Duque do Braganza in Angola was
at first referred to this species by Prof. Barboza du Bocage, but has
been more recently determined by him to belong to B. auguralis.
The note of this bird is a weak stridulous scream. A specimen
lived for some time in our taxidermist’s work-room, and would
eagerly answer to his name when called, by day or night. He would
come to the hand and take from our fingers the bodies of the birds
skinned for mounting, or pounce from his perch upon any stray
mouse that ventured near him. This bird we afterwards sent home
to the Zoological Society, and after its death it passed into the
collection of the British Museum.
Upper parts brown, each feather having pale edges and a black
shaft. Head, pale fulvous, streaked with brown. Wing feathers
dark-brown. Tail feathers fulvous, inclined to rufous, and narrowly
barred with brown; the broadest bar at the tip. Under parts,
pale fulvous, almost white on the chin and throat, streaked on the
two latter, and blotched on the former with brown. Thighs rufous,
faintly blotched with fulvous. Yent feathers pale fulvous. Length,
l j 8” ; wing, 14/ / ; tail, 7". Irides yellow.
Bully adult birds become throughout of a deep rufous-brown,
blotched with dark markings. In this stage they constitute Le
Yaillant’s species, called Le Bougri, Ois. d’Af., PI. 17.*
It is a noteworthy fact however that Indian examples never put on
the bright rufous phase of the African birds, nor are the young so
white underneath. Mr. Hume (Rough Notes, n . p. 268,) in speaking
of the Indian bird, writes:—“ My own private belief is that ours is a
larger bird.”
Fig. Levaill. (jun.) Expl. Sci. Alger. Ois. pi. 3.
27. B uteo p er o x . Long-legged Buzzard,
Prof. Sohlegel, in his catalogue of the Leyden Museum, gives this
species as an inhabitant of South Africa on the authority of a female
specimen procured in Cafiraria by Yan Horstock. Although the
validity of this determination has never been called in question,
the editor thinks it possible that the example in question may ultimately
turn out to be referable to B. jahal or B. desertorum, which
greatly resemble B. ferox in some stages of plumage.
* The late M. Jules Yerreaux was of opinion that the “ Kougri” of Le
Vaillant is the $ of Cerchneis amurensis. Mr. Gray in his “ Hand List ”
separates B . desertorum from B. capensis, but Mr. Gurney writes, “ In my
opinion there is no specific distinction between them : the birds are undistin-
guishable when adult, but when young the Cape specimens have often more
white underneath, and some are also a trifle smaller.“ He has also expressed
his opinion in the Birds of Damara Land that there is only one species to be
recognised under the name of B. desertorum, though he does not fail to notice
some differences.