240 -4 Description of the Birds. 



of them with blackish brown centres, and tawny edges and 

 tips. Below pale tawny or clear chesnut, with the throat 

 and 'sides of the neck marked by longitudinal black blotches ; 

 primary wing feathers black, with more or less of a hoary 

 tinge upon outer vanes ; secondaries blackish brown, with the 

 inner vanes broadly edged towards quills with grayish white ; 

 tail reddish gray, with each feather crossed by ten or eleven 

 narrow blackish transverse bands, and with a reddish white 

 tip ; the inner vanes towards quills nearly pure white. When 

 viewed below the whole of the feathers appear nearly of an 

 uniform white. Length of tail eight inches. 



This species occurs throughout the whole of the colony, 

 and also, at least to a considerable distance, beyond it. It is 

 usually seen in the vicinity of inhabitated places, and generally 

 resorts to trees or bushes about such spots, to rest during the 

 night. The male and female are most commonly seen 

 together, or at least in the same neighbourhood. Their food 

 consists of the smaller quadrupeds, birds, lizards, &c. and 

 they very often prove destructive to the poultry of the Afri- 

 can colonists. The female builds her nest upon trees com- 

 monly at no great distance from the resorts of man ; construct 

 it externally of dry twigs, leaves, &c., internally of feathers, 

 hair, and such like materials, and lays from three to four eggs, 

 which are about the size of those of the common domestic 

 hen. 



Obs. As scarcely any two specimens of this buzzard ex- 

 hibit even nearly the same tints or distribution of colors, it is 

 difficult to give such a description as will enable the reader 

 to detect the bird if found in the intermediate stages between 

 youth and maturity, when the diversities are most strikingly 

 exhibited. In specimens a little advanced, the most ready 

 means of detecting the species will be a reference to the tail ; 

 which, in all, after a certain age, has the ground color of a 

 deep chesnut or ferruginous red; and each feather either 

 marked by a black blotch near the tip, or by transverse 

 black bands. When less advanced, the ground color, though 

 it be not as just described, yet evidently inclines to that, and 

 exhibits, particularly towards the quill, a strong ferruginous 

 tinge. The inner vanes of the feathers, particularly towards 

 quills, will also be found to have a considerable share of 

 white, more or less pure, and the whole of the under parts 

 of the body to be of a rufous or tawny tint, of different depth 

 in different parts ; and only, if at all, variegated by irregular 

 blackish or brownish black blotches. 



BUTEO LAQOPUS. 



Falco Lagopus, Gmel Syst. 1, p. 260, sp. bS.Lath. Ind. 



