148 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



white ; under surface of body yellowish-white ; the breast, 

 sides of body, and thighs more uniform brown, clouding the 

 whole of these portions of the under-parts ; primary-quills 

 dark brown, externally shaded with ashy-grey, with distinct bars 

 of darker brown, less plainly indicated on the secondaries, 

 which are paler brown like the back, the inner webs of all the 

 quills white for two-thirds of their length ; tail ashy-brown, 

 with a rufous shade towards the tip, and crossed with twelve 

 or thirteen bands of darker brown ; cere yellow ; bill bluish- 

 black, darker towards the tip ; feet yellow ; iris yellowish-brown. 

 Total length, 22 inches; oilmen, 1*45; wing, i5'o; tail, 9-0; 

 tarsus, 3-1. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, and very little larger. 

 Total length, 23 inches; wing, 16*5; tail, 9^5 ; tarsus, 3*1. 



Young Birds. The young of the Common Buzzard is always 

 much paler than the adults, and frequently has the head and 

 under surface of the body creamy-white, with a few streaks and 

 spots of brown. 



I consider all these light-coloured birds to be immature, 

 though some ornithologists regard this pale plumage as indica- 

 tive of albinism, and the darker forms to be melanistic. While 

 admitting that Buzzards have a tendency to melanism, my ex- 

 perience has been that the birds grow darker with age, and have 

 fewer bars on the tail than when they are young. 



Eange in Great Britain. The Common Buzzard is by no means 

 so plentiful in the British Islands as it used to be, owing to the 

 ill-advised way in which it has been shot down by game-pre- 

 servers. In Scotland and Wales, however, it is still to be found 

 in the wilder districts, and in many parts of England specimens 

 are obtained on migration : these are mostly young birds. In 

 Ireland Mr. R. J. Ussher says that in Donegal, Londonderry, 

 Antrim, and Down, where it was formerly recorded by Thomp- 

 son as resident, it has now been nearly exterminated, and the 

 bird is, therefore, as rare in its ancient habitat as it is in 

 England. 



Range outside the British Islands. Commonly distributed over 

 the greater part of Western Europe, but its eastern range is by 

 no means satisfactorily determined, as in Russia it appears to 



