378 Birds. 



Figure 2. 

 This specimen was shot in the same year as the last, at Honing- 

 ham, in Norfolk, and is also in the Norwich Museum. The uniform 

 dark brown plumage of the last bird is here broken into patches of a 

 more yellowish tint. The head, breast and belly are of a light brown, 

 with streaks and blotches of a darker colour. The wings dark brown 

 with light tips. The quills, which are nearly black, have also light 

 tips. The tail is almost like that of the last, but of a more yellow 

 brown, with a light shade of which colour it is also tipped, and the 

 latter mark is found in all the remaining birds. 



Figure 3. 

 This bird was taken at Yarmouth, in the same year as the two that 

 precede it, and is now in my own possession. The feathers on the 

 top of the head, and the neck, are dark brown, with light tips, giving 

 these parts of the bird a mottled appearance. The space between the 

 beak and the eye, and around the eye, is dark ash grey. There is a 

 large patch of dark brown on the breast, and the patches on the thighs 

 and under parts of the last specimen, are here broken into bars. The 

 wings are also tipped with light brown, which, upon the quill-feathers 

 and secondaries, approaches to white. The tail resembles that of the 

 bird last described. 



Figure 4. 

 This figure is from a foreign specimen, now in the possession of 

 Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle : it was said to be a male. The whole head 

 is of a light ash grey ; the beak and wings dark brown tipped with a 

 lighter colour ; the quills tipped with light brown ; the whole of the 

 under parts and thighs white, barred with brown. The tail is nearly 

 like that of the last, but has a fourth bar, or rather several patches in 

 the form of a bar, on the upper end ; it is tipped with light yellow 

 brown. Birds in this state are, I believe, considered by some (as far 

 as regards the head) to be varieties, and are distinguished by the name 

 of "capped buzzards." But may not the grey head, which has given 

 rise to that name, be one of the regular changes incidental to this 

 species ? I do not see why it should be considered as a mere acci- 

 dental variety, more than the barred plumage, with which it is equally 

 well known, and appears to be usually found. For I think that in the 

 accidental varieties (by which I understand varieties produced by 

 change of food, or domestication, and which cannot be traced to any 

 periodical change of plumage), which occur in the coloiu: of birds, the 



