36 BFZZAED. 



forty ounces; length, about one foot eight inches. The general 

 colour of the bill is black, or leaden grey, yellow at the edges, 

 and greyish blue where it joins the cere. The cere, which is bare 

 above and below, but bristled on the sides, is of a greenish, 

 yellow, darker in specimens of darker colour; iris, yellowish 

 brown, or pale yellow, but it is found to vary in some degree, 

 according to the general tone of the colour of the bird, and 

 sometimes approaches to orange. The head, which is very wide 

 arid flattened on the top, is streaked with darker and lighter 

 shades of brown; occasionally with yellowish white; neck, 

 short and wide in appearance so much so, as. in connection 

 with the shape of the head and the general loose character 

 of the plumage, together with the habit of these birds of 

 prowling for food in the evening, to have led some to suppose 

 that an approximation is furnished by the Buzzards to the Owls. 

 The colour of the feathers of the neck is dusky grey, very 

 much streaked with brown; cliin and throat, white, or nearly 

 white. The breast, greyish white, or yellowish white, also 

 very much streaked with darker and lighter shades of brown 

 some of the feathers being white, with brown spots in the centre 

 of each. In some specimens the breast is nearly as dark as 

 the back, in others it is belted beneath with a broad band of 

 a purple tint, and occasionally is entirely variegated with reddish 

 brown. The back, dark brown, sometimes shewing a purple 

 hue. Wings, large, measuring from four feet to four feet and 

 a half in extent. They are rounded at the ends, so much so 

 that this feature is not only clearly discernible, but a distin- 

 guishing mark of the bird when on the wing: when closed 

 they reach nearly to the end of the tail. The tips are deep 

 brown, shaded at the base with pure white. The wings beneath 

 are lighter, being mottled with white and brown they are 

 crossed irregularly with dark bars: greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, dark brown; primaries, brownish black; greater under 

 wing coverts, and lesser under wing coverts, dark brown. The 

 tail, which has six, eight, ten, or twelve narrow bars of alternate 

 dark brown and pale greyish brown, the last dark bar being 

 the widest, is tolerably long, rather wide, and slightly rounded 

 at the end: the tips of the feathers are pale reddish brown. 

 The under side of the tail is of a general greyish white, barred 

 with dark brown. Its whole appearance is often extremely 

 beautiful the upper surface being varied with a fine grey brown 

 of different shades, and reddish yellow. Upper tail coverts, 

 dark brown; lower tail coverts, yellowish white, or white 



