30 



BUZZARD. 



Buteo vulgaris, FLEETING. 



Falco buteo, PENNANT. 



Buteo ? Vulguris Common . 



DR. JOHNSON assigns as the meaning of the word Buzzard, 

 'a degenerate or mean species of Hawk,' but being by no 

 means one of the admirers of the author of the Dictionary, I 

 shall take leave to differ as much from the present as from 

 another well-known definition of his touching the 'gentle art,' 

 of which for many years I have been a professor. 



The Buzzard is plentifully distributed over nearly the whole 

 of the continent of Europe, and is also found in JSiorth America, 

 and in the more northern parts of Africa. It inhabits Spain 

 and Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, Holland 

 and Prance, but does not appear to be known in the Orkney 

 or Shetland Islands. In England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, 

 it is sufficiently abundant, affecting both the wildest and the 

 most cultivated districts, but in both taking a more than 

 ordinary care to choose such situations as will either exempt 

 it from the intrusion, or enable it to have timely notice of 

 the approach of an enemy. Still, with all its precautions, 

 and with every aid that its own instinct and the most retired 

 or the most rugged localities can afford, it, like too many 

 others of our native birds, is gradually becoming more rare. 

 The advancement of agriculture upon grounds heretofore wild 

 and uncultivated, the natural consequence of an increase of 

 population within a fixed Circumference, and other causes, 

 contributing to this fact, which at all events a naturalist must 

 lament. 



The Buzzard is found in a variety of situations, such as 

 rocky cliffs, chases, parks where timber abounds, or in 'ci 

 devant' forests. It remains in England throughout the year, 

 but, nevertheless, is partially migratory. 



I am much indebted to my liberal-minded friend, Arthur 

 Strickland, Esq., of Bridlington-Quay, for the following striking 



