100 BIRDS OF PREY. 



§ 2. With the tarsi partly feathered. 



SHORT-WINGED BUZZARD. 



{Falco * Buteoides. Nobis. F. ^w^co, Pennant, not of Lin. Arctic 

 Zool. vol. i. p. 241.) 



Spec. Charact. — Dusky brown ; beneath yellowish-white with 

 oblanceolate dusky spots ; wings not extending to the end of the 

 tail ; tail dusky with about 9 bars and tipped with dull white ; 

 cere and legs yellow. — Male, darker, with hastate spots on the 

 femorals, and the external feathers of the tail wholly dusky, the 

 under ones barred only on their inner vanes ; also more inclined 

 to ferruginous beneath, and with the throat scarcely spotted. — 

 Female, 4 inches longer, lighter, with the tail distinctly barred, 

 and the femorals scarcely spotted. 



This large American Buzzard is not uncommon in 

 this vicinity, but more abundant towards winter. He 

 appears to have very much the manners of the European 

 Br.zzard, remaining inactive for hours together on the 

 edges of wet meadows, perched upon the larger limbs of 

 trees, and at times keeping up a regular quailing and 

 rather hoarse keigh-oo keigh-oo, which, at intervals, is 

 answered by his mate. When approached he commonly 

 steals off to some other tree at no great distance from the 

 first, but if the pursuit be continued, he flies out and 

 hovers at a considerable height. His prey is probably 

 mice, frogs, and reptiles ; and in New York he possesses, 

 according to Pennant, the name of the Great Hen-Hawk, 

 from his occasional depredations on the poultry, a fault 

 with which he is seldom charged here. Pennant also adds, 

 that it continues in that state the whole year, and lays 5 

 eggs in the month of May. It is also an inhabitant of 

 Hudson's Bay and Newfoundland. The true Buzzard 

 is said to be of a cowardly and indolent disposition ; con- 

 structing, in old oaks and birch-trees, a nest of small 

 branches, or taking possession of one deserted by the 

 Crows, and lining it with wool and other soft substanceSj 



