BROWN OR COMMON BUZZARD. 191 



yond the middle, and having several irregular dusky bands. 

 Tail banded with brownish-grey and blackish-brown, there be- 

 ing ten bands on the middle feathers, and twelve on the outer, 

 the last dark band little larger than the next, the tips whitish. 

 The sides of the head and throat are yellowish-white, streaked 

 with brown ; the rest of the lower parts yellowish-white lon- 

 gitudinally marked with oblong brown spots, the sides chiefly 

 brown ; the lower tail-coverts with a brown spot ; the plumage 

 of the legs and tarsi irregularly banded with brown and light 

 red. The dull light-red edgings of the feathers are character- 

 istic of the young, as is also the case in the Sparrow Hawk, 

 Merlin, and many other species. 



A female of the same age differs chiefly in having less white 

 on the lower parts, the breast being of a nearly uniform browni, 

 although on many of the feathers are large reddish- white spots. 

 The feathers of the legs and tarsi are variegated with brown, 

 white, and light red, as are those of the abdomen, and the 

 lower tail-coverts are yellowish, barred with brown. 



Progress toward Maturity. — At the next moult the bird 

 assumes a more uniform brown colour on the upper parts, the 

 • light red markings becoming light brown, or brownish- white. 

 It appears that, as it advances in age, the marginal white of 

 the feathers extends, until the lower parts in the males become 

 nearly white, there being merely an oblong brown spot on each 

 feather, and the white predominates over the brown on the 

 upper parts. In the females similar changes take place,- but 

 the lower parts are always more brown than in the males. I 

 have seen some individuals that had the plumage white, with 

 the exception of the quills, tail, and some oblong spots on the 

 upper parts and breast. It thus appears that at first the co- 

 lours of the plumage are darker than when the bird has attain- 

 ed maturity, and that the white predominates over the brown 

 in old age ; but it must be confessed that sufficiently correct 

 observations have not been made on this subject, and that 

 much remains to be done before the variations of colour in this 

 species are well understood. The iris in young birds is brown, 

 in adult birds yellow ; and, as corroborative of the view which 



