BRITISH BIRDS. 65 



tufts are composed of seven or eight feathers which 

 are more than two inches long. The bill is strong, 

 much hooked, and black; claws the same; irides 

 reddish yellow ; legs very stout, and covered 

 with a great thickness of short mottled brown 

 feathers ; toes the same down to the claws. The 

 predominant colours of the plumage are very dark 

 brown and ferruginous, but mixed and beautifully 

 variegated with markings and shades of black, 

 brown, and yellow, with spots of white, crossed 

 w T ith zigzag lines, and innumerable minute speck- 

 lings of white, ash-grey, and brown. The outline 

 of our figure was taken from a living bird exhibited 

 in a show, the markings of the plumage from a 

 very ill stuffed specimen, which was taken on the 

 coast of Norway, and obligingly lent to this work 

 by Capt. Wm. Gilchrist, of this port. This bird is 

 sometimes met with in the northern Scottish isles, 

 where it preys upon Rabbits and Grouse, which 

 are numerous there, but it is very rarely seen in 

 England ; it generally lays two or three eggs, 

 which are of a round form, and perfectly white. 



VOL. I. 



