49 ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 
the latter in the centre of each feather; chin, fawn-colour, 
tinged with rust-colour; throat, fawn-colour, or yellowish white 
inclining to cream-colour, and slightly streaked with brown, 
sometimes a mixture of fawn and rust-colour; breast, brown, 
with streaks, or yellowish white with spots of brown, the 
lower part being banded with a bar of dark brown; back, 
brown, the feathers being edged with a paler shade. 
The wings, which measure from about four feet two to four 
feet three or four inches across, and reach nearly to the end 
of the tail—about an inch short of it—are brown, some of the 
feathers edged with fawn-colour; the third and fourth quill 
feathers are the longest in the wing, the first and second are 
short. The wings are partly white midlernen th, Greater wing 
coverts, pale brown, edged with dull white, or still paler brown, 
or yellowish white; lesser wing coverts, pale brown, edged with 
yellow; primaries, brownish black. The tail, ae is rather 
long, and slightly rounded at the end, is white at the base, 
and irregularly barred with deeper or lighter brown near the 
end, which is tipped with white, the general colour being buff 
white on the upper half of the superior surface, and brown on 
the lower half; beneath, the upper half white, the lower greyish 
brown. In some specimens there are no indications of bars 
on either side of the tail, and others have only a band near 
the tip on the under side; upper tail coverts, white, or buff 
white, streaked or spotted with brown, and edged with yel- 
lowish brown; under tail coverts, yellowish white, or buff 
white. The legs are feathered down to the toes—this being 
in fact the distinguishing ‘trait in its character.’ The feathers 
are reddish, tawny yellow, or cream yellow, streaked and spotted 
with brown; toes, dark yellow, and rather short—the outer and 
middle ones are united bya membrane. They are all reticulated 
at the upper end, and have several large scales at the lower 
end, near the claws: the middle toe is said to have seven or 
eight, the outer one five, and the mner and hinder ones four 
each; but I must here repeat the remark I have previously 
made. The claws, black and long, but not much hooked. 
The female is considerably larger than the male—the larger 
measurements given above belonging to her. The lighter parts 
of the plumage are darker in her than in him, and the under 
tail coverts are spotted with brown. One variety is so very 
dark as to appear almost black at a little distance, and the 
legs and bill are darker in proportion, assuming an orange hue. 
Temminck, and after him Meyer, describes a dark mottled 
