COMMON BUZZARD. 



207 



thickly clothed with smali scale-like im- 

 bricated feathers ; wings ample, first quill 

 shortest, third and fourth longest, the notch- 

 ing of the four first not so marked as in 

 Buteo ; tail ample, rather long, the two 

 outer feathers slightly shorter than the others; 

 tarsi short, comparatively weak, feathered 

 for half their length, reticulated ; toes slen- 

 der, the outer nearly equal to the inner, the 

 anterior joints of all scutulated, claws weak, 

 slightly hooked, with the inner edge of the 

 middle one slightly dilated. 



-- Inhabits Europe, India ; breeds on 

 trees ; food chiefly hymenopterous insects 

 and their larvae. 



