BUTEO VULGARIS.
Common Buzzard.
Falco buteo, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 127.
communis fuscus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 270.
i- , ' ^cinereus, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
variegatus, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
W=ÊÊversicolor, Gmel. ib., p. 267.
' obsoletus, Gmel. ib., p. 268.
glaucopisy Merr. Bey tr., ii. p. 7.
— poiana, Savi, Om. Tose., tom. i. p. 29.
——- mutans, Vieill. Faun. Franç., p. 17, pl. 8. fig. 2.
fasciatus, Vieill. ib., pl. 8. fig. 1.
Buteo vulgaris, Bechst. Flem. Brit. Anim., vol. i. p. 54.
einer eus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., torn. i. p. 18, Buteo, sp. 1.
- communis, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 78.
fuscus, MacgiU. Hist, of Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 183.
variabilis, 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, or on an exposed branch of a tree by the roadside
or in a neighbouring field. This is the Common Buzzard, which eighty or a hundred years ago, before
our forests had been enclosed or crossed by the fire-king, 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, se en ; in fact it has so nearly
departed from among us, that it may almost be considered as a bird of 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 o f 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 of 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 of Hawks, Jays, and Pies, and a wood full o f Pheasants.
The 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, or other game-bird is equally
acceptable; so that he really is a troublesome fellow. One would like, nevertheless, that even this vagrant
among the Falcomdai should not be entirely struck out from the Birds of Great Britain. I fear, however,
that such will soon be the case.
The Common Buzzard is subject to so many variations, both in size and colour, that it is very difficult to find
two examples precisely alike. I t uot unfreqnently happens that while one may be of a nearly uniform
purplish black, others are narrowly rayed with brownish white on their breasts and thighs, and others,
again, have light breasts, richly blotched and guttated with brown. These differences do not appear to be
regular stages in the change of plumage, but to be variations subject to no fixed law. Some o f these
varieties may be seen among the individuals in the menagerie of the Zoological Society. The finest
pair I have ever seen are now living a t Berry Hill, the seat of John Noble, Esq., a t Taplow, in Buckinghamshire.
I t is from this pair that Mr. Wolf made the fine drawing copied on the accompanying
Plate i and my thanks are due to Mr. Noble for his kindness in permitting them to be figured in the present
wo rk : they have been tenants o f a large cage for three or four years, and are fully adult ; they appear to be
of different sexes, and, as will be seen, arc very light in the colouring of the breast. The chocolate-coloured
bird represented in the reduced figure was killed at Somerleyton, and is, I believe, a bird of the year, and an
unusually dark variety. ,■
As my friend, Sir William Jardine, has written a very characteristic sketch of the Buzzard in his British
Birds,’ I feel it is only an act o f justice to him, to quote the most important passages.