COMMON BUZZARD. fgg 



vances in age, the wliitisli margins of all the feathers 

 enlarge, until at length, in some individuals, the lower 

 parts are nearly white, with an oblong dark mark on 

 each of the feathers. In middle-age, as one may say, 

 the colours are generally as in the individuals described 

 at the head of this article. In the Museum of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, there are two birds, in which 

 white is the predominant colour, tlie sides of the head, 

 the whole under surface, with the exception of some 

 oblong pale brown spots on the neck, and a large pro- 

 portion of the upper surface, more especially a large 

 patch on the wing-coverts, being of that colour. It 

 would appear, however, that individuals of the same age 

 vary in their colours ; at least no one has traced the 

 changes of colour in a satisfactory manner, nor am I 

 able to accomplish the task. The colour of the iris va- 

 ries from deep brown in the young birds, to light yel- 

 lowish-brown in the old. 



Remarks. — Besides being generally distributed in 

 Europe, the Common Buzzard occurs in the northern 

 parts of North America, Dr Richardson having found 

 it there. Were the fact not certain, one might find it 

 diflScult to conjecture what the Buteo vulgaris of the 

 Fauna Boreali- Americana might be, for the figure given 

 in PI. 27, vol. ii., has a head not much more certainly 

 than half the size of what it would be were it that of 

 our Buzzard drawn of the same length. The bars of 

 the tail are much less numerous, there are no posterior 

 plates on the tarsus (although such are mentioned in 

 the description), and the bill is not that of the Buzzard, 

 nor even of a Buzzard at all ; while the form of the 



