76 FALCONID.E. 



the Buzzard. Brown, white, and grey, are the prevailing 

 tints, and these are variously disposed upon different indi- 

 viduals, so that hardly any two birds are alike. These differ- 

 ences are said not to depend upon the different ages or sex 

 of the individuals. The old birds can only be distinguished 

 from the young, when dissected, by the toughness of the sinews 

 and hardness of the bones. As little as these different colour- 

 ings have to do with age or sex, so little can they be con- 

 sidered as indicating different species ; since, with exception 

 of colouring, these birds resemble one another perfectly, and 

 breed together : the young of such parents partly resemble 

 the male, and partly the female. The individual from which 

 the plate was taken, represents the most usual colouring of the 

 common Buzzard. This may be distinguished at a little 

 distance by the bars that cross the body above the thighs. 

 Temminck considers the Buzzards to differ as much in the 

 colours of their plumage as the Ruffs. They may, never- 

 theless, be divided into three or four principal varieties ; one 

 of which resembles in a great measure the one figured in the 

 plate, has the entire colouring dark brown, with lighter bor- 

 ders to the feathers, except the lower part of the breast and 

 the inside of the thighs, the feathers of which are barred with 

 alternate bands of dark brown and white ; the under tail- 

 coverts and inside of the wings barred in a similar manner. 

 Birds of this description have the cere and legs full yellow ; 

 the beak grey, tipped with black ; and the iris of the eyes 

 reddish brown. A still darker variety is sometimes seen, 

 which, at a little distance, appears perfectly black. The 

 entire plumage of this variety is a dark chocolate colour, the 

 tips of the quill-feathers black, and the dark feathers of the 

 tail crossed by narrow lines of ash-colour. Buzzards of this 

 sombre colouring have the cere and feet dark in proportion, 

 approaching to orange ; the iris is also of a fuller brown than 

 in the preceding. 



