BUZZARD. 77 



A beautiful variety, of which there is a specimen in the 

 Zoological Museum, is also occasionally seen, but is com- 

 paratively rare. The ground of the plumage in this variety 

 is white, tinged In various parts with yellow. The head is 

 marked down the centre of the feathers with narrow streaks 

 of brown ; a few of the feathers on the breast are marked with 

 arrow-shaped spots of the same colour, the smaller coverts of 

 the wings the same. The quill-feathers are dark brown to- 

 wards the tips ; the tail is crossed on a white ground with 

 dark brown bars seven or eight in number, the bar nearest to 

 the white tip broader than the rest. In the white variety the 

 eyes also partake of the light colour of the plumage, and are 

 pearl-coloured or greyish white : the cere and feet are also 

 lighter in the same proportion, being a pale lemon-yellow. 



In all specimens of the Buzzard the bars that cross the 

 tail appear the only permanent marks, which are found 

 equally in all the varieties, differing however in number from 

 six to twelve. 



The entire length of the Buzzard is twenty-one or twenty- 

 two inches, and in breadth about four feet six inches. The 

 beak is long in proportion to its depth, and its form does not 

 indicate much strength ; the upper mandible is rather si- 

 nuated than toothed, but the point of the tip is sharp and 

 prolonged. The legs are rather short, the tarsi scutellated 

 in front ; the toes are scutellated about half their length, the 

 rest towards the junction with the leg reticulated : the middle 

 toe has eight scales, the outer five, the hind and inner toes 

 four. The claws are not much hooked. The tail is square, 

 and the wings reach nearly to the end of it ; the fourth quill 

 the longest. 



The head is large, and the whole aspect of the bird heavy. 



The egg, marked 15, belongs to the Buzzard. 



