246 CLASS AVES. 



has so totally unfitted them. As the weakness of their eyes 

 approximate them to the nocturnal accipitres, we also find in 

 them that air of stupidity, and other similar effects, always 

 produced by short sight. 



The buzzards proper, usually establish their abode in culti- 

 vated grounds, and in the neighbourhood of habitations, where 

 they feed on fowl, small game of all kinds, moles, mice, and 

 other small mammalia, and even on insects. The sub-buzzards 

 have similar habits. The busards (as they are called by 

 Cuvier) are wilder, and prefer the neighbourhood of marshes 

 and watery grounds, where they feed on aquatic birds, fish, 

 reptiles, &c. 



The Common Buzzard (Buteo Vulgaris, Lacep., and Falco 

 Buteo, Linn.J was called by the Greeks triorches, from an er- 

 roneous opinion that it had three testicles. It is a little more 

 bulky than the royal kite. The plumage of this bird is so 

 subject to variations, to so great an extent both in intensity of 

 shades and proportions of white in the difierent parts, that it 

 would be impossible to give a description that would agree with 

 all or the majority of individuals. 



This species is very much extended in Europe : it has been 

 seen in Barbary, and probably exists in other countries of 

 Africa. Quails, partridges, leverets, rabbits, are in summer 

 its most usual prey, and in the same season it plunders the 

 nests of other birds. When food of this description is wanting, 

 moles, field-mice, frogs, grasshoppers, and other insects, supply 

 its place. In this way it renders some service to agriculture, and 

 young buzzards, when tamed, may be employed in the de- 

 struction of worms and hurtful insects in gardens ; but they will 

 also destroy the small birds, many of which do no mischief, 

 and serve by their presence and song to embellish such places. 



The buzzard often hovers heavily over small coppices to dis- 

 cover the minor game. In the fields it fixes by preference on 

 a tree or bush, or a clump of earth, to watch its prey, and dart 

 instantly upon it when within reach. It constructs its eyrie on 



