*+137. Buteo buteo buteo (Linn.) S.N. ed.’ X. 1. p. 90 
137a. 
13 
b. 
(1758). [Europe = Savoy, ex. Gesner.] 
Common Buzzard. 
First 4 primaries notched (all notches usual- 
ly recurved) ; wing ¢ 375-380; tail 222- 
228, tarsus 79 mm.; 2 wing 385-410 mm. ; 
plumage variable ; adult in breeding plum- 
age (brit. Isles) brown to dark brown above, 
sometimes with rusty edges to scapulars ; 
lower parts whitish, heavily blotched on 
breast and barred on belly with dark brown 
(occasionally rufous brown), the upper 
breast, flanks and thighs nearly uniform ; 
tail with 12 or 13 darker bars, the sub- 
terminal one broad!; a sooty-brown phase, 
also a ‘‘ white ” variety are met with. 
Buteo buteo arrigonit Picchi, Avicula, vil., 
p- 40 (1903). [Sardinia. | 
Sardinian Buzzard. 
Smaller insular race ; wing 5 346-50, 2 380 
mm.; darker and more rufous; more 
heavily marked below; tail tinged rufous. 
Buteo buteo hartertt Swann, Syn. List Accip. 
p. 43 (1919). [Madeiva, type in Tring 
Mus. | 
Madeiran Buzzard. 
Wing ¢g 392-405, 9 411-430 mm. ; large and 
dark insular race; more similar to B. v. 
mtermedius than to B. b. buteo in plumage ; 
darker than latter generally is and nearly 
W., N. and’ G. 
Europe). 5. te 
Spain and Italy, 
N. to Brit. Isles, 
Sweden, W. 
Finland and 
Esthonia, E. to 
Germany, 
Poland, 
Carpathians, 
Greece and 
W. Asia Minor. 
Sardinia, 
Corsica. 
Madeira. 
1 Adults among the Buzzards usually have the tail much less numerously 
barred than is the case with young birds and often have a broad sub-terminal 
band, lacking in young birds; the latter also have the under parts of the body 
as a rule lighter, often with the arrow-head, circular or elongated dark markings 
characteristic of the young birds of other groups of the Accipitres, and have only 
first 3 primaries notched in some cases. 
vary greatly in plumage. 
Individuals of all the species of Buteo 
