ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS. 123 



barred. This view of the case was confirmed, without a single exception, 

 by all the other skins, or parts of skins, subsequently obtained by Mr, Wolley, 

 most of which ai-e now in the Museum at Norwich. Naumann's figure of the 

 adidt Rough-legged Buzzai-d being so good, and Mr. Gould intending to depict 

 the same stage of plumage in his magnificent ' Birds of Great Britain,' I do 

 not think it necessary to give an illustration here. Mr. Cassin, so far as I 

 know, is the only wiiter who has noticed the ei-ror into which most of the orni- 

 thologists of "Western Em-ope" have fallen ('Baird's B. of N. Am.,' p. 33) ; 

 but he has not mentioned, as he might have done, that it was to an ornitho- 

 logist of " Western Em-ope " that he owed his having been able to avoid the 

 mistake his own countrymen had also made. 



Of the series of eggs now in my possession, I can only say that, large as it 

 is, it has been chosen from a much larger number. I have not the smallest 

 doubt of the genuineness of any one specimen ; but my first object in making 

 the selection has always been to take those that were most fully identified. 

 The picking out of finely marked or singidar varieties has been a secondary 

 consideration, but it is also one I have not neglected. The extent of variation, 

 both in colour and size, is, however, in some degree shown by the dozen 

 which are represented on the accompanying plates. The differences in the 

 latter point are very great. It will be observed that the short diameter of 

 one of the eggs represented (tab. v. fig. 6) is considerably greater than the 

 long diameter of another figured in the same plate (fig. 3) ; and yet there is 

 nothing of a monstrous character about either. Such discrepancies, I believe, 

 are by no means imusual ; and yet there are oologists who think that from 

 perhaps a single specimen they can prescribe the exact measurement of a 

 bird's egg ! In colour the variation is quite as great ; but I know how im- 

 possible it is to characterize in words the shape or tint of the markings. 

 The more minutely a description is attempted, the less does it seem to convey 

 a true idea of the specimen. 



It might be imagined that the measures taken by IVIi". WoUey to obtain a 

 large series of identified eggs of this species woidd lead to its utter extirpa- 

 tion; I have therefore to assm-e those who were imacquainted with him, 

 that he was one of the last persons to have done anything fraught with such 

 a result. Rough-legged Buzzards are the commonest birds of prey in Lap- 

 land ; and so enonnous is the extent of the district from which his specimens 

 were collected, that no sensible diminution whatever was thereby made in 

 their numbers. It must also be remembered that all rapacious birds in Scan- 

 dinavia are exposed to systematic persecution, premiums for their destruction 

 being offered by the local authorities. Accordingly it was only necessary 

 that he should promise a very trifling sum, in addition to the legal reward, to 

 ensure the bird's feet being brought to him, instead of to the Liinsman or 

 other official. After the year 1857, Mr. Wolley ceased to trouble himself 

 with regard to this species, though a few of its eggs were occasionally brought 

 in, chiefly from remote stations, or by collectors, paid by the day, who wished 

 to swell the importance of their captures.] 



§ 339. Fragment. — Palo-joki, Enontekis Lappmark, 3 July, 1853. 

 " Bird shot. J. W." 

 This fragment we found under the nest of a Rough-legged Buz- 



