114 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



Mississippi territory. The young were, at that time, nearly as large as their parents, 

 and very clamorous, making an incessant squeaking noise. One which I shot contained 

 in his stomach mingled fragments of frogs and lizards." 



THE AMERICAN BUZZARD.* 



This bird, sometimes called the white-breasted hawk, is twenty-two inches long, and 

 four feet in extent ; the cere is pale green ; the bill pale blue ; the upper part of the 

 head, sides of the neck, and back, are brown, streaked and seamed with wliite, and some 

 pale rust ; the wings are brown, barred with dusky ; the breast pure white, with the 

 exception of some slight touches of brown that enclose the chin ; the legs are bright 

 yellow, and feathered half-way do\vn ; and the tips of the wings reach to the middle of 

 the tail. 



" One of these birds," says Wilson, " which was shot on the wing, hved vnth me 

 several weeks, but refused to eat. It amused itself by hopping from one end of the room 

 to the other, and sitting for hours at the window, looking down on the passengers below. 

 At first, when approached by any person, he was somewhat shy, but, after some time, he 

 became quite familiar, permitting himself to be handled, and shutting his eyes, as if quite 

 passive. Though he hved long without food, he was found, on dissection, to be exceed- 

 ingly fat, his stomach being enveloped in a mass of solid fat of nearly an inch in thick- 

 ness." In size and general appeai'ance, these birds bear a considerable resemblance to 

 those last described ; and they frequent the same situations in winter. 



THE HONEY BUZZARD. 



The genus Pernis, of which this bird forms the type, may be known by the close thick 

 velvety feathers which occupy the apace between the beak and the eye, — a space in all 

 the other rapacious birds destitute of feathers, but partially clothed mth long hairs radiatr 

 ing from a central point. 



This bird is about the size of the common buzzard, nearly two feet in length, but 

 rather more slender ; the cro\vn of the head is of a pure bluish ash-colour ; the upper 

 surface deep bro-wn, inclining to grayish. The secondary (luill-feathcrs are liarrcd alter- 

 nately with dusky brownisli gray ; the under surface is whitish, with triangular reddish 



• Falco (piib-gcnus Biitoo) IJorcalis. — Honap. 

 t Purnis Ajjivorus. — Cuv. 



