458 AVES—BUZZARD. 
They feed on locusts, and on a species of lizard which is very numerous 
in that part of the country —and are said also to devour small green snakes. 
The flight of this bird is easy and graceful, with sometimes occasional 
sweeps among the trees. 
THE COMMON BUZZARD, 
Wuicn is one of the most widely known kinds of hawk in England, is about 
twenty inches in length, and four feet and a half in breadth, when measured 
across the expansion of the wings. The lower parts of the body are pale, 
varied with brown; on the upper parts dusky bars of a darker hue, mark 
the wings and tail, the latter of which is grayish beneath, and tipped with 
dusky white. The legs are yellow, the claws black, and the bill lead- 
colored, short, and hooked. : 
Though strong and active, the buzzard is se cowardly that he will fly even 
trom the sparrow-hawk, and, when he 1s overtaken, will allow himself to 
be beaten, and cast to the ground, witlwut making any resistance. His 
indolence is equal to his cowardice, as he will sit perched on the same bough 
during the greatest part of the day. Such is his laziness that he seldom 
constructs a nest, but contents himself witn repairing the old nest of a crow, 
and lining it with wool and other soft materials. Rats, mice, and often all 
sorts of carrion, are his articles of subsistence. 
It is but fair, however, that justice sheuld be done to the good qualities cf 
the buzzard. He may be tamed; and, in his domestie state, he manifests a 
very strong attachment to his owner. Buffon has given a highly amusing 
account of one which was reclaimed from the wild state by the Rector of 
St Pierre de St Belesme, and which displayed much of the sagacity and 
affection of a dog. ‘ After having shut it up about six weeks,” says he, “TI 
yegan to allow it a little liberty, taking the precaution, however, to tie both 
the pimions of its wings. In this condition it walked out in my garden, and 
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1 Falco buteo, Lin. 
