NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 139 



Family FALCONID^. Genus Archibuteo. 



Sub-family BUTEONIN.^. 



ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 



Archibuteo lagopus (yGmelin ex Brimnich). 



(British : Fairly common spring and autumn coasting migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, May and early June. 



Breeding area : Northern Palaearctic region. The 

 Rough-legged Buzzard breeds in all parts of Scandinavia 

 suited to its requirements as far as the North Cape, and 

 North Russia as low as the Baltic Provinces, where, how- 

 ever, it is rare. Eastwards it breeds in Northern Siberia 

 to at least as far east as the watershed of the Yenesay 

 and the Lena. 



Breeding habits : The Rough-legged Buzzard 

 returns from the south to its northern breeding grounds 

 in April. Although the bird cannot perhaps be classed 

 as gregarious whilst on passage, it is by no means an 

 unsociable one, and even in the breeding season many 

 pairs may be found nesting within a comparatively 

 small area. The favourite breeding grounds of this 

 Buzzard are rocky fells and hilly tracts of country in 

 which the forests are more or less broken up and studded 

 with swamps and sheets of open water. It shows less 

 partiality for the interior of forests than the Common 

 Buzzard, and is much more of a mountain and open 

 country species. I would suggest that this bird pairs 

 for life, and yearly resorts to one particular spot to 

 breed. The nest is variously placed on rocks, on fell 

 ridges, or on trees, the largest and most elaborate 

 structures being usually in the latter sites. Externally 

 it is made of sticks and twigs, and lined with fine dry 

 grass — a large flat and open structure. Many nests on 



