ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 47 



quently trapped in the district of Campsie, where limited numbers 

 seem to linger a week or two during their autumnal wanderings. 

 Of late years I have seen beautifully mottled specimens sent to 

 the poulterers' shops, showing a great diversity of plumage. The 

 species, indeed, appears to be subject to considerable variety, 

 some being very light in colour, and others extremely dark. This 

 diversity occurs in birds apparently of the same age and sex. 



THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 

 BUTEO LAOOPUS. 



Is not common in the West of Scotland, only a very few examples 

 having come under my observation. But on the east coast it 

 sometimes appears in considerable numbers in autumn, when 

 moving in migratory flocks. At Dunbar, for example, twenty or 

 thirty specimens were obtained by different collectors in 1840-42. 

 I had an opportunity of examining many of these at the time. 

 The species has since that year occurred in the same district, not 

 perhaps so plentifully, but still numerously enough to attract 

 attention. The appearance of the birds is always sudden, and for 

 the most part they are first seen in the moorlands, hunting at 

 times in packs of three or four birds. The late Dr Nelson had 

 three or four in his collection, which were procured near his resi- 

 dence in 1863. Periodically, although not with stated regularity, 

 the Rough-Legged Buzzards appear in larger flights than usual; 

 and I have remarked that in these instances many of the birds 

 are very dark in colour, the entire plumage being of a chocolate 

 brown. I have a very beautifully mottled specimen in my own 

 collection, from Cortachy, in Forfarshire; it was shot by a keeper 

 on the Earl of Airley's estate a few months ago. Within the last 

 two years I have examined a very fine bird of this species that 

 was shot on the banks of the Avon, near Hamilton, in December, 

 1865, and another the most beautiful Rough-Legged Buzzard I 

 have ever seen killed at Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, in October, 

 1867. 



The Rough-Legged Buzzard is very variable in its markings, 

 scarcely two of the numerous specimens that have come under my 

 notice being alike. The most of the specimens found in East 

 Lothian, especially those belonging to the migratory flocks, are 



