I40 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



ridges and shelves of rock are mere hollows lined with a 

 little grass. The bird is a remarkably close sitter, and 

 when disturbed wheels round and round the nesting 

 place, sometimes uttering a mewing note, and usually 

 quickly joined by its mate. Mr. Harvie-Brovvn gives a 

 very interesting instance of a male bird getting another 

 mate, after the first female had been shot from the nest, 

 within twenty-four hours. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Rough-legged Buzzard are from two to 

 five in number, three or four being an average clutch. 

 They vary from white suffused with pale brown to pale 

 bluish-green in ground colour, blotched, clouded, spotted, 

 and streaked with rich reddish-brown and pale brown, 

 and with underlying markings of violet-gray. They are 

 subject to considerable variation, the amount of the 

 spotting and the intensity of its colour differing con- 

 siderably even in the same clutch. The two rarest 

 types are perhaps those in which the markings are small 

 and delicately streaked or pencilled over most of the 

 surface, and in which most of the markings are under- 

 lying ones. The eggs of this bird cover the same range 

 of variation as those of the Common Buzzard. Average 

 measurement, 2*25 inches in length by 1*8 inch in breadth. 

 Incubation is performed almost if not entirely by the 

 female, and lasts about three weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this species 

 cannot be distinguished from those of the Common 

 Buzzard. As a rule they are more heavily marked and 

 a trifle larger. The breeding range is also much more 

 Arctic. 



