Common Buzzard ; and, like that bird, it occasionally exhibits
some deviation in the colour of the plumage from that which
may be considered characteristic of the species. The Rough-
leg'O'ed Buzzard is much the more rare bird of the two ;
and although it has now been killed once or oftener in
almost every county in England, it has rarely been known to
breed here, and is usually obtained in the spring or autumn,
when changing: its latitude from south to north, or vice versa.
The Rough-legged Buzzard appears from various authorities
to prefer marshy districts ; and Mr. Selby has recorded
his own personal observation of the habits of two birds of this
species. “ Their flight was smooth, but slow, and not unlike
that of the Common Buzzard ; and they seldom continued for
any length of time on the wing. They preyed upon Wild
Ducks and other birds, which they pounced upon the
ground; and it would appear that mice and frogs must have
constituted a great part of their food, as the remains of both
were found in the stomachs of those that were killed.” Small
Mammalia are also eaten, as, well as birds and reptiles. A
Rabbit is a favourite subject for a meal with the Roughlegged
Buzzard ; and examples of this bird are annually observed
in autumn, and sometimes caught in traps, on the
warrens of Suffolk and Norfolk.
Mr. Williamson, in his remarks on the appearance of rare
birds in the vicinity of Scarborough, says that the Roughlegged
Buzzard breeds occasionally in a precipitous dell near
Hackness. A marked female returned the following year
with a new mate to her former favourite haunt.”
According to M. Temminck, this bird generally builds on
high trees, and lays three or four eggs. A coloured figure of
the egg will be found in the first part of Dr. Thieneman’s
work on the Eggs of the Birds of Europe, tab. iii. fig. 2 :
this representation is two inches two lines in length, by one
inch eight lines in breadth, of a pale brownish white, blotched
over the larger end with darker brown. Mr. Thompson
of Belfast, in his contribution to the Natural History of
Ireland, published in the Magazine of Zoology and Botany,
mentions three or four instances of the occurrence of the
Rough-legged Buzzard in that country; and Sir William
Jardine, in a note appended to the article on the Roughlegged
Falcon, in his edition of Wilson’s American Ornithology,
mentions several that have been killed in East Lothian
and other southern districts of Scotland.
This species appears to inhabit Scandinavia, Lapland, Russia,
and from thence southward is distributed over the European
continent to the shores of the Mediterranean. Le
Vaillant found it in considerable numbers frequenting the
wooded portions of the district of Auteniquoi in Africa ; and
Dr. Andrew Smith has recorded its occurrence as far south as
the Cape of Good Hope.
The Rough-legged Buzzard is well known and rather
common in several parts of the United States. Mr. Audubon
has seen it as far south as the eastern portion of North
Carolina, from whence, he says, it goes northward to breed in
March ; observing also that it is more nocturnal in its habits
than any other Hawk in the same locality. Dr. Richardson,
in his Zoology of North America, says this species advances,
east of the Rocky Mountains, as high as the 68th parallel.
“ I t arrives in the fur countries in April or May, and having
reared its young, retires southward early in October. It
winters on the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, returning
to the north again in the spring. It is by no means an
uncommon bird in the districts through which the expedition
(under Sir J ohn Franklin) travelled ; but being very shy,
only one specimen was procured. A pair were seen at their
nest, built of sticks, on a lofty tree, standing on a low moist
alluvial point of land. They sailed round the spot in a
wide circle, occasionally settling on the top of a tree, but
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