ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 83 



ed over the larger end witli darker brown. Mr. Thompson 

 of Belfast, in his contribution to the Natural History of 

 Ireland, published in the Magazine of Zoology and Botany, 

 mentions three or four instances of the occurrence of the 

 Rough-legged Buzzard in that country ; and Sir William 

 Jardine, in a note appended to the article on the Rough- 

 legged Falcon, in his edition of Wilson's American Ornitho- 

 logy, mentions several that have been killed in East Lothian 

 and other southern districts of Scotland. 



This species appears to inhabit Scandinavia, Lapland, Rus- 

 sia, and from thence southward is distributed over the Eu- 

 ropean continent to the shores of the Mediterranean. Le 

 Vaillant found it in considerable numbers frequenting the 

 wooded portions of the district of Auteniquoi in Africa ; and 

 Dr. Andrew Smith has recorded its occurrence as far south as 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



The Rough-legged Buzzard is well known and rather 

 common in several parts of the United States. Mr. Audu- 

 bon has seen it as far south as the eastern portion of North 

 Carolina, from whence, he says, it goes northward to breed in 

 March ; observing also that it is more nocturnal in its habits 

 than any other Hawk in the same locality. Dr. Richardson, 

 in his Zoology of North America, says this species advances, 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, as high as the 68th parallel. 

 " It anives in the fur countries in April or May, and having 

 reared its young, retires southward early in October. It 

 winters on the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, return- 

 ing to the north again in the spring. It is by no means an 

 uncommon bird in the districts through which the expedition 

 (under Sir John Franklin) travelled ; but being very shy, 

 only one specimen was procured. A pair were seen at their 

 nest, built of sticks, on a lofty tree, standing on a low moist 

 alluvial point of land. They sailed round the spot in a 

 wide circle, occasionally settling on the top of a tree, but 



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