ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 89 



of Zoology and Botany, mentions three or four instances 

 of the occurrence of the Rough-legged Buzzard in that 

 country ; and Sir William Jardine mentions several that 

 have been killed in East Lothian and other southern dis- 

 tricts of Scotland. 



This species appears to inhabit Scandinavia, Lapland, 

 Russia, and from thence southward is distribruted over 

 the European continent to the shores and islands of the 

 Mediterranean. It has been taken at Madeira. Le Vail- 

 lant found it in considerable numbers frequenting the 

 wooded portions of the district of Auteniquoi in Africa ; 

 and Dr. Andrew Smith has recorded its occurrence as 

 far south as the Cape of Good Hope. 



The Rough-legged Buzzard is well known in the United 

 States. Mr. Audubon has seen it as far south as the east- 

 ern portion of North Carolina, from whence, he says, it goes 

 northward to breed in March; observing also that it is more 

 nocturnal in its habits than any other Hawk in the same 

 locality. Dr. Richardson, in his Zoology of North America, 

 says this species advances, east of the Rocky Mountains, as 

 high as the 68th parallel. " It arrives in the fur countries 

 in April or May, and having reared its young, retires 

 southward early in October. It winters on the banks of 

 the Delaware and Schuylkill, returning to the north again 

 in the spring. It is by no means an uncommon bird in 

 the districts through which the expedition (under Sir 

 John Franklin) travelled ; but being very shy, only one 

 specimen was procured. A pair were seen at their nests 

 built of sticks, on a lofty tree, standing on a low moist 

 alluvial point of land. They sailed round the spot in a 

 wide circle, occasionally settling on the top of a tree, but 

 were too wary to allow us to come within gun-shot. In 

 the softness and fulness of its plumage, its feathered legs, 



