BUZZARD. 1 29 



naturally take their rest. Buzzards are generally in 

 good condition, however, which proves that they are 

 industrious. Though neither heroes nor sages, they 

 live quite as comfortably, and enjoy life as much as if, 

 like the goshawk, they were to keep the farm- yard in 

 perpetual terror, or, like the eagle, to soar beyond 

 the clouds and, as some persons assert, gaze on the 

 unveiled splendour of the sun, or, " with telescopic 

 eye," look down on the creatures that crawl over the 

 earth's surface. 



The genera Circaetus and Harpyia connect the eagles 

 and osprey with the buzzards, while the Morphni 

 would seem to unite them with the asturs. But of 

 the birds that occur in our country, none are interme- 

 diate between the eagles and buzzards. The latter 

 genus is composed of many species besides Buteo vul- 

 garis and B. lagopus, — for example, B. borealis and B. 

 poecilonotos, — some of which indicate a transition to the 

 Circi or harriers ; birds which, however, are generally 

 as distinct from buzzards as any tvro groups of this fa- 

 mily can well be, although some individuals place them 

 together. But, in fact> the affinities of the different 

 groups are so complex, that they can be adduced to 

 sanction any arrangement, linear, circular, ternate, qui- 

 nate, or nondescript and indescribable ; and " strict 

 analysis" can with great ease be made to shew, with 

 ^he aid of " affinity and analogy," that " all is rightj' 



