“ Length 22 inches, breadth 4 feet 1 inch. The bill to the
corner of the mouth l j inch, long, much hooked, sharp and
without a process : the tip black, apex, cere and orbits of the
eye, pale blue. Irides a deep fiery red. Cere and base of the
hill closely fringed with long black bristles. Head, neck and
all the under parts of a pure and brilliant white; the shafts
of the feathers on the crown of the head and ears delicately
pencilled with black. Back, scapulars, wings and tail of a
fine glossy black, varying according to the light it is placed
in to green, purple and crimson. The lesser wing-coverts
finely margined and tipped with white; the under wing-
coverts of a pure white, tail long and forked and consisting
of ten feathers, the longest of which are 12 inches, the
shortest, or bottom of the fork, 6 inches. The wings,
when closed, reach exactly to the end of the tail, and cross
their long points over the rump. Legs very short and
strong, much scaled, and, with the feet, of a dirty bluish-
white ; claws white. The feathers of the thighs so long as
nearly to conceal the legs. Suppose it to be the Swallowtailed
Falcon.”
It would be impossible to add to the completeness of the
foregoing description : nothing could more conclusively show
that the supposition with which it closes was correct. It
only remains to state that the figure here given was taken
from a specimen formerly in the Museum of the Zoological
Society.
a c c i p i t r e s . FA LCONlUsE.
B u t e o v u l g a r i s , Leach*.
THE COMMON BUZZARD.
Buteo vulgaris.
B u t e o , Lacepedc^.— Bill ra th e r small an d weak, bending from th e base, p art
of the cutting edge of th e upper mandible slightly projecting ; cere la rg e ;
nostrils oval. Wings ample ; th e first quill-featlier short, about equal in length
to the seventh, the fourth the longest; th e first four feathers with th e inner
webs deeply notched. Tarsi short, strong, scaled or feathered. Toes s h o r t;
claws strong.
T h e B u z z a r d is one of the least rare of the larger kind
of Hawks which inhabit the wooded districts of this country,
preying upon small quadrupeds, birds and reptiles. Its
* Systematic Catalogue of Mammalia and Birds in the British Museum, p. 10
(1816).
f Memoires de l’Institut, iii. p. 506 (1800-1801).