ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 117 



vary exceedingly iu colour, shape and size. Some cannot 

 be distinguished from those of the preceding species or of 

 the Kite, while others are tinted and marked almost as 

 richly as the finest eggs of the Golden Eagle. They measure 

 from 2*44 to 1*82 by 1-95 to 1'53 in. Several nests were 

 examined by the accurate and enthusiastic naturalist last 

 named. One, to which he climbed, was in a Scotch-fir of 

 no great size, and contained two young birds, one not many 

 days hatched, the other much larger. They were white, just 

 like young Eaglets. The nest was small, made of old sticks 

 with a few twigs of the fir and a little of the black hair- 

 like lichen which grows so abundantly in the northern 

 forests. The situation was near the edge of a great marsh 

 with trees all around. Other nests were in taller trees and 

 were larger in size, and the bird will occasionally use an old 

 nest of the Osprey. On approaching its haunts in the 

 breeding season the Rough-legged Buzzard will betray its 

 presence by a plaintive wailing which has been compared by 

 some persons to the mewing of a cat, while to the ears of 

 others it sounds not unmusically, though never so much so 

 as the whistling notes of a Kite. 



This species inhabits the northern parts of the European 

 and Asiatic continents. In Norway and Sweden it breeds in 

 the higher subalpine districts, and in Lapland, even to the 

 neighbourhood of the North Cape, is the most common bird 

 of prey. In Russia Pallas states that it is somewhat rare, 

 but common in Siberia, even in the extreme north and in 

 Dauuria. Dr. von Middendorff found it breeding on the 

 Boganida, but neither Dr. von Schrenck nor Herr Radde 

 mention its occurrence in Amoor-land or in South-eastern 

 Siberia. The southern limit of its eastern range is unknown, 

 but it has not been taken in India. Messrs. Elwes and 

 Buckley saw examples which had been killed near Constan- 

 tinople, and Dr. Erhard says that it occurs in winter in the 

 Cyclades, though neither Von der Muhle nor Dr. Linder- 

 mayer have observed it in Greece. It occasionally appears in 

 northern Italy, and, according to Savi, Prince Charles Lucien 

 Bonaparte obtained one at Rome. In Savoy it would seem 



