COMMON BUZZARD. 



BUTEO VULGARIS. 



Upper plumage, neck and head, dark brown ; lower, greyish brown, mottled 

 with darker brown ; tail marked with twelve dark transverse bands ; beak 

 lead-coloured ; cere, iris, and feet yellow. Length twenty to twenty-two 

 inches. Eggs white, variously marked with pale greenish brown. 



The Buzzard, though ranked very properly among birds 

 belonging to the Falcon tribe, is deficient in the grace- 

 ful activity which characterises the true Falcons. In slug- 

 gishness of habits it approaches the Vultures, and in its 

 soft plumage and mode of flight the Owls ; but differs from 

 the former in feeding on live prey as well as carrion, and 

 from the latter in its diurnal habits. In form indeed it 

 resembles neither, being a bulky broad-winged Hawk, with 

 stout legs and a short much-curved beak. It can fly swiftly 

 enough when occasion requires, but its favourite custom is 



