236 



DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



those of the red kite. In America Captain Bendire relates that Swainson's buzzard 

 has been observed nesting in harmonious association with other birds, especially 

 with Arkansas kingbirds and shrikes ; the nests of these birds being sometimes 

 only a few inches below those of the buzzards. Fossilised remains of the common 

 buzzard have been found in caverns in Devonshire and Westmoreland; the 

 metatarsus figured on p. 140 coming from the latter county. 



ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD (J nat. size). 



Rough-Legged Although the rough-legged buzzards, of which there are but 



Buzzards. \^xj few species, differ from the true buzzards merely in having the 

 metatarsus feathered right down to the toes, it is found convenient to distinguish 

 them by a separate generic name. Their range includes Central and Northern 

 Europe, Northern Asia, and the whole of North America ; the European species 

 sometimes straggling as far as South Africa. The European rough-legged buzzard 

 (Archibuteo lagopus) — the species represented in our illustration — is a bird some- 

 what larger than the common buzzard, and not exhibiting quite as much individual 



