BUTE© YULGMOS.
BUTEO VULGARIS.
Common Buzzard.
Falco buteo, Linn. Syst. Nat,, tom. i. p. 127.
— communis fiiscus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 270.
:----- cinereus, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
variegaiws, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
versicolor, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
— obsoletus, Gmel. ib., p. 268.
— ylaucopis? Merr. Bey tr., ii. p. 7.
—- pojana, Savi, Oru Tosc., tom. i. p. 29.
milans, VieiH. Faun. Franç., p. 17, pL 8. fig. 2.
— fasciatus, VieiH. ib., pi. 8. fig. 1.
Buteo migmris, Bedast. Flem. B rit Anim., vol. i. p. 64.
— emereus, Bouap.- Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 18, Buteo, sp. 1.
communis, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 78.
| É | | fuscus, Macgill. Hist, of Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 183.
variabiKs, Bailly, Orn. Sav., tom. i. p. 127.
Accipiter buteo, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 406.
T h o s e who have travelled through Germany, France, and the central parts of Europe must have frequently
seen a large heavy-looking bird perched on a dead stump, o r on an exposed branch of a tree by the roadside
o r in a neighbouring field. This is the Common Buzzard, which eighty o r a hundred years ago, before
our forests had been enclosed o r crossed by the fire-kiug, when every journey had to be made on horseback,
daily met the gaze o f the traveller in every English county ; for the bird was then plentiful, from the
Land’s End to John o’ Groats. At the present moment it is rarely, if ever, seen; in fact it has so nearly
departed from among us, that it may almost be considered as a bird o f the"past, for it is only in great woods
like the New Forest, the more thickly timbered parts o f Wales, Scotland, and Ireland that it may be looked
for with any certainty o f its being found. Twice have I seen it sailing over the great woods of Tregothnan
in Cornwall, the seat o f Viscount Falmouth: but these I suspect were only chance visitants; for the keeper
was alert, and intended a closer acquaintance the first spare moment he had to devote to them. This is
the line of conduct o f all keepers—a class o f men assiduously devoted to the interests of their employers
in the preservation of their game, but in many cases profoundly ignorant o f the highly important offices
our English birds are destined to fulfil. I t is surprising that the buoyant and elegant evolutions o f the larger
Raptorial birds should not be regarded by them with interest and pleasure; but this is never the case, and
I fear they are the most deadly enemies our birds have to encounter, their greatest pride being a well-stored
larder o f Hawks, Jays, and Pies, and a wood full o f Pheasants.
T he Buzzard has but few friends; his stealthy, prowling habits are against him. A leveret is never
safe in a field overshadowed by his huge wings ; a rabbit, a young pheasant, o r other game-bird is equally
acceptable; so th at he really is a troublesome fellow. One would like, nevertheless, that even this vagrant
among the Falconidcc should not be entirely struck out from the Birds of Great Britain. I fear, however,
th at such will soon be the case.
is subject to so many variations, both in size and colour, that it is very difficult to find
alike. It not unfrequently happens that while one may be o f a nearly uniform
re narrowly rayed with brownish white on their breasts and thighs, and others,
riebiy blotched and guttated with brown. These differences do not appear to be
,,f plumage, but to be variations subject to no fixed law. Some o f these
mong the individuals in the menagerie o f the Zoological Society. The finest
re now living a t Berry Hill, the seat o f Jo h n Noble, Esq., a t Taplow, in Buckrcouipanying
i the present
The Com mot
purplish black, other*
again, have light brmM
regular stages w <■*
varieties may be seen
pair I have ever seen
ingbam shire. It is h
P la te ; and my th » * *
wo rk : they have been
o f different sexes, and,
bird represented in the
unusually dark variety.
As my friend, Sir W
Birds,’ I feel it is only
Mr. Wolf made the fine drawing copied on the
>ble for his kindness in permitting them to be fignn*<
cage for three or four years, and are fully ad u lt; tin
6 very light in the colouring o f the breast. The <chu<
is killed a t Somerleyton, and is, I believe, a bird of tl
» written a very characteristic sketch of she Buzzard
> him, to quote the most important passages.