106 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
bars of brown; tarsi bare of feathers on their lower half, and yellow; claws 
black; irides yellowish-brown; dark hazel in the young; cere yellow; beak 
blackish horn, lighter at the base. Females have more white upon the under 
parts; and have their upper parts lighter in colour. Young birds resemble the 
females, but have rufous edgings to their feathers. The variations in plumage 
are numerous, and seem to be independent of age and sex. Length of male 20 
inches; of female, 22 inches. 
Family—FALCONIDA:. 
RouGH-LEGGED BuzZZARD. 
Buteo lagopus, GMEL. 
HE Rough-legged Buzzard, receiving its name from its tarsi being feathered 
on three sides down to the toes, is an irregular autumn visitor to this 
country, its home being the northern parts of Europe and Asia. Its arrivals 
mainly depend upon the lemmings; when those little animals are abundant in 
Norway some of the Rough-legged Buzzards that had congregated to feast upon 
them continue their flight westwards, and reach the eastern counties of England 
and Scotland; a few of them penetrate as far as the south-western counties, and 
one or two reach Ireland, where this species has been seldom recorded. Most 
that visit this country are young birds; Dresser states that he has never seen 
a British-killed example of an adult, and Stevenson knew of only two or 
three in Norfolk. Sweden and Norway appear to be the favourite habitat of this 
Buzzard on the Continent, but it is widely dispersed over the whole of Arctic 
Europe and Asia, migrating south in the autumn. In its habits, according to 
Seebohm, it closely resembles the Eagle, and he calls it the “ Rough-legged 
Buzzard-Eagle;”’ it is not fond of woods like the Common Buzzard, preferring 
