give some idea of the ordinary appearance of the Common
Buzzard.
The beak is bluish-black, darkest towards the p oint; the
cere yellow, the irides yellowish-brown. The top of the
head and cheeks pale brown, streaked longitudinally with
darker brown; the back, wing-coverts, upper tail-coverts
and the tail above, dark clove-brown, the latter barred with
lighter brown, the feathers of the former having lighter-
coloured edges ; the primaries brownish-black; the chin and
throat almost white ; front of the neck, breast, under wing-
coverts, belly and thighs, greyisli-white, spotted and streaked
with brocoli-brown ; under tail-coverts white ; the tail beneath
greyish-white, barred transversely with dark wood-brown;
legs and toes yellow; the claws black.
Mr. Gurney believes that the variation in the plumage of
this species is greater in birds of the first or second year
than in those which are older, and that adults may be
known by a slight rufous tinge on the tail-feathers. The
colour of the iris also varies from a dark hazel to a light
brownish-yellow, this last being usually observable in the
birds which have the palest plumage. Albino varieties
occasionally occur, and of these the Norwich Museum possesses
a perfect specimen, obtained at Metz, by Mr. J . H.
Gurney, Junior.
The vignette below, is from a sketch of the Buzzard, taken
in the garden referred to at page 111.
B u t e o l a g o p u s (J. F. Gmelin*).
THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD.
Buteo lagopus.
T h e R o u g h - l e g g e d B u z z a r d is at once distinguished
from the Common Buzzard last described, by having the
tarsi covered, in front and on the sides, with feathers as low
down as the origin of the toes, from which fact it has, with
some other species possessing the same peculiarity, been removed
from the genus Buteo, and made the type of a genus
Archibuteo, a course which has met with the approval of many
authorities. In its habits and powers, however, it resembles
* Fcilco lagopus, J. F. Grmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 260 (1788).