736 APPENDIX. 



last winter occupied the two nests which wanted the lining of 

 feathers." 



BUTEO FUSCUS. BROWN BUZZARD. Vol. Ill, p. 183. 



On the head and neck of an individual killed in the end of 

 March 1840, many feathers of a blackish-brown colour, very 

 different from the umber-brown of the old plumage, were 

 sprouting up. This circumstance I mention, because it shews 

 that the Buzzard begins to moult at a very early season, and 

 that, either the older it grows the darker is its plumage, or 

 that merely the new feathers have at first a much deeper tint 

 than their predecessors. 



BUTEO LAGOPUS. ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 

 Vol. Ill, p. 193. 



It would appear that an unusually large number of Rough- 

 legged Buzzards visited Britain in the winter of 1839. I have 

 seen an individual killed in Fifeshire, and another in Dum- 

 friesshire ; Mr Hepburn mentions two that were shot in East 

 Lothian ; and Mr Harley of Leicester writes thus : — " Is it 

 not somevAdiat strange that so many specimens should have been 

 killed this winter in our district. Five have been obtained 

 at Bunney Park, five in Charnwood, and three by keeper 

 Adams in Bradgate Park ; in all thirteen. I had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing the habits of this bird in Bunney Park, 

 when in company with my brother. Its flight was flagging 

 and heavy, not unlike that of the Barn Owl, Strix flammea. 

 We saw it make several transits from the wood to a rabbit- 

 cover. These Buzzards appear to come in small flights. A 

 female that was shot on the 12th November 1839, by keeper 

 Adams, in Bradgate, measured 23 inches in length, and 54 in 

 alar extent ; its weight was 2 tfc 4 oz. The wings when closed 

 were of the same length as the tail. In its crop I found rab- 

 bits' fur, pieces of flesh, small bones, and the feet of what 



