216 BRITISH BIRDS 



buff in ground-colour, blotched with rich chestnut-red, and purple - 

 grey underlying marks. 



Besides the twelve species of the order Accipitres described. all 

 of which breed in the British Islands, there are fourteen others. 

 which, although described as British in the standard ornithological 

 works, are only occasional or accidental visitors or stragglers to 

 our shores. There are two vultures to be mentioned : the griffon 

 vulture (Gyps fulvus), an inhabitant of Southern Europe, Africa, 

 and Asia, once obtained in Ireland ; and the Egyptian vulture 

 (Neophron percnopterus), an inhabitant of Southern Europe and 

 Africa, twice obtained. The next species is the marsh-harrier 

 (Circus ceruginosus) , once abundant throughout Great Britain and 

 Ireland, now, unhappily, extinct as a British species. This harrier, 

 which was also called the moor-buzzard, is a graceful, handsome 

 bird : the head creamy white ; upper parts brown ; beneath, buff, 

 streaked with brown and chestnut ; part of the wing and the tail 

 silvery grey. In its buoyant flight and preying and nesting habits 

 it resembles the hen harrier, but frequents fens and marshes instead 

 of moors and uplands. 



The rough-legged buzzard (Archibuteo lagopus) is an irregular 

 visitor, chiefly in autumn and winter, from the northern parts of 

 Europe. It differs from the common buzzard in having its legs 

 feathered to the toes hence the specific name, lag opus rough- 

 footed like a hare. This species is of more frequent occurrence in the 

 British Islands than any other occasional visitor among the diurnal 

 raptors, and in some years it appears in considerable numbers. 



The spotted eagle (Aquila clang a), known to us as a rare occa- 

 sional visitor, breeds in the forests of central and south-eastern 

 Europe. More interesting to us is the goshawk (Astur ji><i Imuloriiix), 

 since this fine bird of prey, although now a very rare straggler to 

 Great Britain, is believed to have been formerly an indigenous 

 species, and to have bred in Scotland down to the beginning of the 

 present century. In form, colouring, and manner of preying it 

 resembles the sparrow-hawk, but is nearly double the size of that 

 bird, and flies at very much larger game. 



The American goshawk has been included in the list of British 

 birds on ' somewhat slight evidence,' as the author of the ' Manual 

 of British Birds ' says. The black kite (Milvus nigrans) is an 

 African species, a summer visitant to Europe south of the Baltic, 

 and has once been obtained in Great Britain. The swallow -tailed 



