HARRIS'S BUZZARD, 25 



margin. Neck rather short. Body full. Feet short, robust; tarsi roundish, 

 anteriorly feathered half way down, and scutellate, posteriorly also scutellate; 

 toes of moderate length, scaly for half their length; claws long, arched, 

 compressed, acuminate. Plumage full and rather blended. Space between 

 the bill and eye covered with bristly feathers. Wings long, broad, the fourth 

 quill longest, the first and seventh or eighth about equal; the first four 

 abruptly cut out on the inner web. Tail rather long, broad, slightly round- 

 ed. Cere and feet yellow; bill light blue at the base, black at the tip, in all 

 the American species. 



HARRIS'S BUZZARD. 



-^Buteo Hareisii, Jlud. 

 PLATE V. 



The varying modes of flight exhibited by our diurnal birds of prey have 

 always been to me a subject of great interest, especially as by means of them 

 I have found myself enabled to distinguish one species from another, to the 

 farthest extent of my power of vision. On considering this matter, I have 

 become fully convinced that a greater length of the wings in any one species 

 is not, as most naturalists have imagined, an indication of its greater power 

 of flight. Writers of the present day who, judging of the flight of birds 

 from such circumstances, think that those species which have longer and, as 

 they suppose, more complete wings, fly with more rapidity than those whose 

 wings are comparatively short, are, in my opinion, quite mistaken. They 

 judge in this matter, not from experience, but from appearance, having pre- 

 viously determined theoretically that a long wing is a more efficient instru- 

 ment than a short one; and being acquainted with birds only through the 

 medium of skins and feathers, presume to inform us as to their comparative 

 agility. The power of flight in birds of any kind depends not upon the 

 length, amplitude, or shape of the wings, but upon the rapidity with which 

 these members are moved, and the muscular energy applied to them. It is 

 not a little surprising to me that not one of the authors who have written on 

 this subject, has spoken of the mode of flight of our Turkey-Buzzard, which, 

 notwithstanding its very ample wings, is one of the very slowest birds; for, 

 although it manages to rise to a great height, all its movements are laborious 

 and heavy, unless when it is at some considerable elevation. The amplitude 

 of its wings serves it in sailing only, never in enabling it to pass swiftly 

 Vol. I, 3 



