THE ZooLoGist—JUNE, 1876. 4955 
Plumage of the Roughlegged Buzzard.—I am much obliged to Mr. 
Gurney for his note on the plumage of the roughlegged buzzard (S.S. 4921). 
I had not, however, as he supposes, passed over the correction in the “ Cor- 
rigenda” to the first volume of the fourth edition of “ Yarrell,” and am 
therefore still of opinion that mine is a bird of the second year; and my 
reasons for thinking so are, as previously stated, that the general markings 
are more like the adult than the young bird, as there described. I may add 
a few more particulars to those I have already given :—Nearly the whole of 
the feathers of the upper part are edged, and some very broadly, with dirty 
white, and only a very few with rust-colour; the fore arm and wrist are dull 
white on the edge. The inner webs of the primaries are white to the end 
of the broad part, with a brown streak running up the shaft; this streak 
gradually increases in width on each feather nearer the body. ‘The under 
surface is marked as follows ;—The chin, throat and breast are dirty white, 
streaked longitudinally and patched irregularly with brown. The feathers 
of the sides covering the thighs and upper part of the belly are nearly 
uniform brown; those on the lower part of the belly are white, barred with 
brown ; under tail-coverts dirty white. The tail is grayish white at the base, 
becoming darker towards the tip, and the brown markings are so exactly like 
those of the Suffolk bird se graphically described in Montagu’s ‘ Dictionary’ 
that I need here only repeat it :—“ Near the tip is a brown bar above an inch 
in breadth; above that another, half an inch broad; and above these each 
feather had a spot upon it in the middle, mimicking, when spread, a third 
bar.” The outer feathers are irregularly streaked on the outer webs. My 
bird and this Suffolk specimen seem also to have been very nearly the 
same length, and the new feathers in the tail, which I have previously 
described, had only a small streak, instead of a spot, on the middle of this 
feather, on the proximal part ; and I pointed out that there are also markings 
on the broad distal bar of this new feather almost making it into two bars. 
It therefore appears to me that.as the broken bar on the proximal part is 
disappearing, another bar is appearing on the distal part, which when fully 
formed will give three distinct bars on the tail. The under surface of the 
tail is grayish white, darkening towards the tip, and the bars of the upper 
surface can be traced faintly shaded through. There is no mention of any 
bars on the tail of the young bird described in ‘“ Yarrell;” moreover, it is 
also there stated that “ Mr. Gurney is of opinion that the fully adult dress 
is not assumed until the third year.” This can surely mean nothing less 
than that there is an intermediate dress worn in the second year. If there- 
fore Mr. Gurney is still determined to make my bird a ‘young one,” he 
must, I think, admit that they sometimes borrow their father’s coat— 
especially the tails—at the same time wearing a rather shabby vest of their 
own,—John Sclater ; Castle Eden, May 11, 1876, 
