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BUTEO LAGOPUS. THE ROUGH-LEGGED 

 BUZZARD. 



ROUGH-LEGGED FALCON. 



Falco lagopus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I. 260. 



Falco lagopus. Lath. Ind. Orn. I. 19. 



Rougli-legged Falcon. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Buse pattue. Falco lagopus. Temm. Man. d'Orn. I, 65 ; III. 37. 



Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus. Selb. Illustr. I. 58. 



Buteo lagopus. Rough-legged Buzzard. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 87. 



Tarsi feathered to the toes ; upper parts broicn, the head and 

 neck streaked with white, lower parts yelloidsh-ichite, with a broad 

 patch' of hroii'ii on the breast ; the tail white for more than half its 

 length. Old birds almost entirely chocolate brown, the forehead 

 and base of the tail white, the latter barred icith ichite and brotoif 



In form, proportions, and plnmage, the " Rough-legged 

 Falcon" so closely agrees with the Common Buzzard, that, 

 although it differs in having the tarsi feathered to the toes, in 

 place of being feathered for half their length, I cannot con- 

 sider it necessary to refer it to a separate genus. This spe- 

 cies exhibits great variation in the tints of the plumage, and 

 especially in the proportion of brown to yellowish -white, some 

 individuals being almost entirely of the former colour, while 

 in others the latter predominates. 



Male. — Although females of this species often equal and some- 

 times exceed in size those of the Common Buzzard, the male is 

 usually smaller than in that species. The general form is ro- 

 bust, the body being full, the neck rather short, the head very 

 large, roundish, and flattened above. The bill is short and 

 comparatively small, broader than high at the base ; the dorsal 

 line of the upper mandible declinate and slightly convex to the 

 edge of the cere, then decurved in the fourth of a circle, its 



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