ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS.
Rough-legged Buzzard.
Falco lagopus, Briinn. Ora. Bor., p. 4.
plumipes, Daud. Traité d’Ora., tom. ii. p. 163.
Buteo peimatus, Daud. Traité d’Om., tom. ii. p. 156.
— lagopus, Staph. G o n . f i . of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., v o l . xiii. pt. ii. p. 47.
Archibuteo planiceps et akiceps, Brehm, Vog. Deutsch., pp. 40 & 41.
------------ lagopus, Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 3.
Butactes buteo, Less. Traité d'Orn., p. 83.
— lagopus, Bona p . Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 3.
D r. B a i r d , in his ‘ Catalogue o f North American Birds,’, gives thé temperate portions o f Europe and
America as the habitat o f the Archibuteo lagopus. I f this be the true state of the case, then the bird enjoys
a wide range ; but Mr. J . H. Gurney, our highest authority with respect to Raptorial birds, considers that
it is not found in America, and inclines to the opinion that the American individuals, hitherto supposed
to be identical withvthe European bird, were the young o f the allied species Archibuteo Sancti-Johannis. I
do not find it in Schrenck’s ' List of the Birds o f the Amoor,’ and Mr. Swinhoe did not meet with it in
Northern China. Its separation from the genus Buteo has mainly been suggested by the feathering of
the tarsi, a difference very similar to that seen between the Golden and Sea Eagles. The Common and
Rough-legged Buzzards also differ considerably in their habits, particularly in the situations they frequent.
The latter is less of a woodland species than the former, and in Norway will be found among the bleak open
moorlands, hunting the too untni p rid es for hares, lemmings, moles, &c., and, when not on the wing, sitting
on a large stone in the middle o f the moor, watching th e Ptarmigan and Willow-grouse, upon which it makes
a stoop when inclined to feed. I have seen it, with its long flapping wings, hunting over the wild uplands
o f the Dovrefjeld, when it» actions, as seen at a distance, so much resembled those of the Harriers, that
for a time I mistook it for one o f those birds. In Englaud it must be considered an irregdlar visitant, for
its occurrence here is very uncertain ; when it does come, it generally makes its appearance in autumn,
and takes up its quarters iu the great rabbit-warrens of Norfolk and Suffolk, where it lives until it has
been trapped or received au unequivocal notice to quit. I t not unfrcquently happens that as many as
thirty or forty appear a t a time, and it is on record that even a larger number have been killed in a single
season. Most o f these wanderers from their native moors are young birds o f the year, which have attained
their full size, b u t which arc very differently coloured, being marked with longitudinal tawny blotches,
while the adults are barred with brown and huffy white, particularly on the lower part o f the abdomen and
the thighs. With reference to the occurrence o f the bird in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson says, “ The Roughlegged
Buzzard appears here in autumn ami throughout the winter, their numbers varying greatly in different
seasons; and though a t times very scarce, they have been known to visit us in very considerable numbers.
During the months of November. December, and January, 1839-40, no less than forty-seven specimens were
obtained within eight miles of Thetfurd, and many more were killed in other parts o f the county. From
that time until the autumn of 1H5*. they were rather scarce ; between October and January o f the following
year about twenty were obtained, chiefly in the neighbourhood o f Thetford and Yarmouth. They have also
been plentiful duriug the present winter (1 8 0 2 -6 3 ), though not to the extent above alluded to : one bird-
stuffer in Norwich has liad four or rvv. and a game-dealer a t Yarmouth seven or eight m ore; tliey have also,
I learn, been procured in CMfthrtdg<whire, Suffolk, and other adjoining counties. Nearly all the specimens
, i. m*' >«. immature plumage; indeed I know of but four or five adult birds,
will* the cross b*ra .•> dr»- thigh-leather«, in our local collections.”
It mnn mat be <*M that the counties o f Norfolk and Suffolk are the only parts o f Great Britain in
which 15 • ■ bird is found tor examples have been obtained in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and Kent ; it has
also been faw»d in Scotland and iu vurious ¡tarts of Ireland. It is evidently a northern rather than a *mitliern
mm the Mediterranean, mid, in our-own island, sektom
Mr. Wiled»»«*» .-¡.iu-'. in hi. ’ % > ’« “ ><* Summer in Lapland,’ “ that the Rough-fagged Bi
by far the co nnin'.. - J *H the hmfc o f p r e , in the Quickiock district during the « «
qtience of the number .■-! lemmingr which .»warmed on the fells. They appea ■'
May, and the first r o t t obtained »as on the 2 !e t o f that month : it contained three
a nest with five, and one -»ilh six ; hut three is the usual number,
and grass, loosely put together, was often on a len-mige be ow