COMMON BUZZARD. 133 



>ife of the general colour externally, but darker towards 

 the tip, and on their inner webs towards the base bar- 

 red with reddish-white, the shafts whitish, excepting- 

 towards the end. The tail is marked with ten narrow 

 bars of dark brown alternating with others of pale 

 brownish-grey, the last dark bar much broader, the 

 tips pale reddish-brown, the shafts whitish. 



Length 20 inches, extent of wings 48 ; wing from 

 the flexure 16^, tail 8; bill along the back l^-^, to the 

 tip of the lower mandible l^g ; tarsus 3; hind toe 1, 

 its claw I^ ; second toe 1^, its claw 1 j^^ ; third toe l-^^, 

 its claw |i ; fourth toe l^^, its claw |. 



Female. — The female is considerably larger, but re- 

 sembles the male in colouring. The following descrip- 

 tion, which I transcribe from a note-book, with slight 

 omissions, is that of an individual shot in the parish of 

 Towie in Aberdeenshire, in May 1817, by my friend 

 Mr William Craigie. 



It bears a great resemblance to the " black eagle" in 

 its figure and plumage, but is proportionally rather more 

 robust, and has a much shorter neck. The general colour 

 is a fine dark brown, with some ferruginous and white. 

 The bill is bluish, tipped with black, short, strong, and 

 much hooked. The cere yellow, tinged with greenish- 

 blue ; the soft margins of the bill yellow. The legs and 

 toes are yellow, the claws black. The whole upper sur- 

 face from the cere to the tail is of a rich brown ; on the 

 upper part of the back the feathers are shouldered with 

 light ferruginous, the scapulars and wing-coverts with 

 that colour and white. The primary quills are nearly 

 black, and glossed with purple toward their distal ex- 



