nan 
34 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
smaller twigs and a few leaves. Fourteen eggs in my col- 
lection, from different parts of New England, exhibit but 
slight variations; they are of a bluish-white color, and 
covered at the larger end with spots and blotches of 
chocolate-brown : in some specimens these blotches are con- 
fluent, making a ring near the large end;1 others are 
covered nearly over their entire surface with these markings. 
The form of the egg is nearly spherical; the length varying 
from, 1.50 inch to 1.23 inch, and the breadth from 1.24 
inch to 1.06 inch. Average dimensions about, 1.40 inch by 
1.20 inch. I have found the eggs as early as the 10th of 
May; but usually they are not laid before the 20th, in the 
latitude of Massachusetts. The same nest is occupied by 
the parent birds for several years, and the female is a per- 
sistent layer. A case came to my knowledge in the spring 
of 1864, when the nest was robbed three times: fourteen 
egos were removed; and, if the female had not been killed 
when the last eggs were taken, she would probably have 
laid another litter, as there were several found in her 
nearly formed. Both sexes, as with nearly.all the other 
birds of prey, incubate 
Sub-Family Butrontinaz.— The Buzzard-Hawks. 
General form heavy; flight vigorous and long continued, but not so rapid as in 
the preceding sub-families. Subsist mainly on small quadrupeds and reptiles. 
BUTEO, Cuvier. 
Buteo, Cuvier, Regne Animal, I. 323 (1817). 
Bill short, wide at base; edges of upper mandible lobed; nostrils large, ovate, 
wings long, wide, fourth and fifth quills usually longest; tail moderate, rather wide; 
tarsi moderate, robust, with transverse scales before and behind, laterally with small 
circular and hexagonal scales; toes moderate, or rather short; claws strong. Con- 
tains about thirty species, inhabiting all countries. 
1 The specimen, fig. 3, plate I., is marked with a ring of confluent blotches at the 
smaller end, a peculiarity rarely met with. 
