72 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



brown ; and the underparts of the dark form are also uniform brown. The 

 underparts of the light form are nearly white, intermediate forms being 

 barred and spotted. The female of neither form has the grey head, that of 

 the dark form otherwise resembling the male, and that of the light form 

 otherwise resembling a male intermediate form. Adult birds have always 

 three conspicuous nearly black bars on the tail, which is brown; and 

 between these are rudiments of pale bars in both sexes, at all ages, and in 

 both forms. In young birds the feathers of the upper parts have pale 

 edges, with the under surface streaked instead of barred in the light form, 

 and uniform in the dark form. According to the opinions of the best 

 authorities on the subject, there is no important intermediate stage 

 between the young and the adult. The beak is black; legs and toes 

 yellow, claws black ; irides yellow in the adult, but hazel in the young. 

 It is not known that the two forms of this bird have in any way different 

 geographical areas of distribution; but far too little attention has been 

 paid to this subject by the ornithologist, who, for the most part, has 

 ignored the existence of local forms — 



A Honey-Buzzard, stout or slim, 

 A Honey-Buzzard is to him, 

 And it is nothing more. 



