82 FALCONID.E. 



Common Buzzard ; and, like that bird, it occasionally exhibits 

 some deviation in the colour of the plumage from that which 

 may be considered characteristic of the species. The Rough- 

 legged Buzzard is much the more rare bird of the two ; 

 and although it has now been killed once or oftener in 

 almost every county in England, it has rarely been known to 

 breed here, and is usually obtained in the spring or autumn, 

 when changing its latitude from south to north, or vice versa. 



The Rough-legged Buzzard appears from various autho- 

 rities to prefer marshy districts ; and Mr. Selby has recorded 

 his own personal observation of the habits of two birds of this 

 species. " Their flight was smooth, but slow, and not unlike 

 that of the Common Buzzard ; and they seldom continued for 

 any length of time on the wing. They preyed upon Wild 

 Ducks and other birds, which they pounced upon the 

 ground ; and it would appear that mice and frogs must have 

 constituted a great part of their food, as the remains of both 

 were found in the stomachs of those that were killed." Small 

 Mammalia are also eaten, as well as birds and reptiles. A 

 Rabbit is a ftivourite subject for a meal with the Rough- 

 legged Buzzard ; and examples of this bird are annually ob- 

 served in autumn, and sometimes caught in traps, on the 

 warrens of Suffolk and Norfolk. 



Mr. Williamson, in his remarks on the appearance of rare 

 birds in the vicinity of Scarborough, says that " the Rough- 

 legged Buzzard breeds occasionally in a precipitous dell near 

 Hackness. A marked female returned the following year 

 with a new mate to her former favourite haunt." 



According to M. Temminck, this bird generally builds on 

 high trees, and lays three or four eggs. A coloured figure of 

 the t^^ will be found in the first part of Dr. Thiencman's 

 work on the Eggs of the Birds of Europe, tab. iii. fig. 2 : 

 this representation is two inches two lines in length, by one 

 inch eight lines in breadth, of a pale brownish white, blotch- 



