ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD 



PLATE VIII. 



Buteo lagopus, FLEMING. 



Falco lagopus, PENNANT. 



THE Rough-legged Buzzard is a rare and irregular visi- 

 tant to Great Britain. Like many other rapacious birds, 

 it seeks the protection of precipitous rocks for the place of 

 its eyrie, or in their absence selects lofty trees. 



The nest is composed of sticks, and is slightly lined with 

 small twigs, mosses, and other soft materials, and, as is the 

 case with many other kindred birds, the original nest is re- 

 paired to, and repaired from year to year, a predilection 

 seeming to be entertained for the same building-place. 



The eggs, from three to five in number, vary much in 

 colour, some being nearly white, others more or less darkened 

 with blots of a grey hue ; some are clouded with pale brown, 

 others richly blotched with dark red. 



One variety is of a white ground colour, spotted irregu- 

 larly all over here and there with rather small yellowish and 

 greenish brown markings, mostly between the larger ones. 



A second is also of a white ground colour richly marked 

 all over irregularly with large blots and streaked patches of 

 yellowish brown of different shades. 



Others are bluish white, much marked at the smaller end, 



