ROUGH-LEGGED FALCON. 303 
April, these birds abandon this part of the country, and retire to the 
north to breed. . 
They are common, during winter, in the lower parts of Maryland, 
and numerous in the extensive meadows below Newark, New Jersey ; 
are frequent along the Connecticut River; and, according to Pennant, 
inhabit England, Norway, and Lapmark. Their flight is slow and 
heavy. . They are often seen coursing over the'surface of the mead- 
ows, long after sunset, many times in pairs. They generally roost on 
the tall detached trees that rise from these low grounds; and take 
their stations at day-break, near a ditch, bank, or hay-stack, for 
hours together, watching, with patient vigilance, for the first un- 
lucky frog, mouse, or lizard, to make its appearance. The instant one 
of these is descried, the Hawk, sliding into the air, and taking a cir- 
cuitous course along the surface, sweeps: over the spot, and in an in- 
stant has his prey grappled and sprawling in the air. 
The Rough-legged Hawk measures twenty-tivo inches in length, 
and four feet two inches in extent; cere, sides of the mouth, and feet, 
rich yellow; legs, feathered to the toes, with brownish yellow plumage, 
streaked with brown; femorals, the same ; toes, comparatively short ; 
claws and bill, blue black; iris of the eye, bright amber; upper part 
of the head, pale ochre, streaked with brown ; back and wings, choc- 
-olate, each feather edged with bright ferruginous ; first four primaries, 
nearly black about the tips, edged externally with silvery in some 
lights; rest of the quills, dark chocolate; lower side, and interior 
vanes, white ; tail-coverts, white; tail, rounded, white, with a broad 
band of dark brown near the end, and tipped with white ; body below, 
and breast, light yellow ochre, blotched and streaked with chocolate. 
What constitutes a characteristic mark of this bird, is a belt or girdle, 
of very dark brown, passing round the belly just below the breast, and 
teaching under the wings to the rump; head, very broad, and bill un- 
commonly small, suited to the humility of its prey. 
The female is much darker, both above and below, particularly in 
the belt, or girdle, which is nearly black; the tail-coverts are also 
spotted with chocolate; she is also something larger. * , 
* From their different form, Buteo has been now adopted for the Buzzards. ‘They 
will also rank in two divisions; those with clothed, and those with bare tarsi. The 
American species belonging to the first, will be our present one, Wilson’s Falco niger, 
and Auduybon’s F. Harlanii;t to the second, Wilson’s B. borealis, hyemalis, and 
the common European Buzzard, which was met with in the last overland arctic ex- 
pedition. The Buzzards are sluggish and inactive in their habits ; their bills, feet, 
and claws, comparatively weak ; the, form heavy, and the plumage more soft and 
downy, as if a smooth flight was to supply in part their want of activity. ‘Their 
general flight is in sweeping circles, after mounting from their resting-place.. They 
watch their prey either from the air, or on some tree or eminence, and sometimes 
pounce upon it when sailing near the ground. When satiated, they again re- 
turn to their perch, and if undisturbed, will remain in one:situation until hunger 
again calls them forth. Our present species is one of the more active, and is com- 
mon, also to the European continent. In Britain, it is an occasional visitant. They 
seem to appear at uncertain intervals, in more abundance ; thus, in 1823, I received 
two beautiful specimens from East Lothian ; and, in the.same year, two or three 
more were killed on that coast. Mr. Selby mentigns, that in the year 1815, North- 
umberland was visited by them, and several specimens were obtained. He re- 
* { See description. of F. Wiger. . 
