118 BRITISH BIRDS. 



winter is probably accidental. There are two extreme forms of the Euro- 

 pean Buzzard. One is deep blackish brown^ with pale edges to a few of 

 the feathers of the underparts. The other is pale brown on the upper 

 partSj with white edges to each feather ; whilst on the underparts the 

 white edges have spread over the entire feather^ except on a few feathers on 

 the breast and flanks, where a little pale brown is left in the centre. 

 Between these two extremes every intermediate form occurs. 



East of the Ural Mountains lie the Barabinsky Steppes, where there is 

 no forest, and consequently no Buzzards. But beyond the steppes the 

 forest reappears, and with it the Buzzards. In the upper valley of the 

 Yenesay, in the trans-Baikal country as far as the Stanowoi Mountains on 

 the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, and in Japan the Japanese Buzzard 

 (fi. japonicus) is found in summer, wintering in China, Burma, and India. 

 This is a very near ally of our bird, said to differ from it in having the 

 tarsus feathered for a slightly greater extent, and in varying from dark 

 brown to rufous in general colour ; but the former character is by no 

 means constant, though it has suggested the name {B. plumipes) for the 

 Indian bird, which some writers have considered distinct. 



Besides the two northerly forms of the Common Buzzard, there are two 

 tropical forms. The African Buzzard [B. desertorum) is, on an average, 

 slightly smaller than its European representative, the length of wing 

 varying from 13^ to 15;^ inches, whilst in our race it varies from 15 to 

 16J inches. As might be expected in a tropical race, it is very rufous in 

 colour ; but it is subject to the same variations as our bird, and a small 

 dark bird of our race is scarcely to be distinguished from a large dark bird 

 of the African race. The range of the latter extends to the Azores, where it 

 is a resident — to Tangiers, Algeria, and Tunis, where it is also found 

 throughout the year — and to the plains of Northern Turkey and South 

 Russia as far east as the Kirghis Steppes, where it is a common summer 

 visitor, passing the Bosphorus in great numbers on migration and 

 wintering in South Africa. The other tropical form is the Long-legged 

 Buzzard (i?. /eroa'), with the same variations from dark brown to rufous- 

 brown wliioh are found in its tropical ally ; it is a larger bird, the wing 

 varying from 16j to 19^ inches in length. In Algeria and the Kirghis 

 Steppes its range overlaps that of the African Buzzard ; but it extends 

 eastward through Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan to 

 India. Both the rufous forms are remarkable for the way in which the 

 bars on the tail become nearly obsolete in adult birds. All these forms 

 are probably conspecific to a greater or less extent. 



It is very unfortunate for the Common Buzzard that it looks so much 

 like an Eagle. The consequence is that in England, where the preserva- 

 tion of game is conducted irrationally, the innocent Buzzard has almost 

 become exterminated by the gamekeepers. In order to study its habits 



