2o6 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



in the character, amount, and distribution of the mark- 

 ings, some being ahnost spotless, others richly and 

 handsomely clouded and blotched, usually at one or the 

 other end, or less frequently uniformly covered with 

 shorter irregular streaks. A beautiful variety is clouded 

 all over the surface-markings with a thin film of lime, 

 making them look as though they were veiled in a 

 wreath of gray smoke, and giving them a uniform pink 

 appearance. They vary equally as much in form. 

 Average measurement, 2*2 inches in length, by 175 

 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed chiefly by the 

 female, is said to last three weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of this species 

 cannot readily be confused with those of any other 

 Raptorial bird breeding in the British Islands, except 

 those of the Kite. The latter species, however, is 

 extremely rare, and its nest is a very peculiar one. 

 Nevertheless the eggs should be most carefully identified. 



The Rough-legged Buzzard {ArcJiibutco lagopus) is 

 said to have bred regularly in Yorkshire half a century 

 ago, but as the fact is only based on the recollections 

 of a gamekeeper (men of wonderfully elastic memory), 

 I for one place no reliance whatever upon it. The 

 assertion of Mr. Thomas Edward of Banff, that this 

 species had bred in that vicinity, is just as unworthy 

 of credence until more completely substantiated. A 

 description of the nest and eggs and the salient points 

 in the reproductive economy of the Rough-legged 

 Buzzard is therefore quite out of place in a volume 

 dealing with British species alone. 



