46 ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 



quills curved inwards, broadly obtuse. Tail longish, nearly even, tbe feathers 

 rather broad, truncated and rounded. 



Bill bluish-black at the tip, blue towards the base; cere and margin yellow. 

 Iris hazel. Feet gamboge-yellow; claws brownish-black. The general co- 

 lour of the upper parts is dark umber; the forehead with a slight margin of 

 whitish, the quills blackish-brown, the tail with three bands of dark brown, 

 alternating with two whitish bands, and a narrower terminal band of greyish, 

 the tips white. Throat whitish; cheeks reddish-brown, with a dark brown 

 mustachial band; the under parts generally light reddish, marked with gutti- 

 form umber spots along the neck, and sagittiform larger spots of the same 

 colour on the breast and sides. Tibial feathers of the same colour, with 

 numerous smaller spots. 



Length 14 inches; extent of wings 32; bill ||- along the ridge, li along 

 the gap. 



Adult Female. 



Colouring generally similar to that of the male, lighter above, more tinged 

 with red beneath, where the spots are larger and more irregular. 



Length 16 inches; extent of wings 35; bill 1 along the ridge, II along the 



S a P- 



ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 



Buteo lac-opus, Gmel. 

 PLATE XI. 



The Red-legged Hawk seldom goes farther south along our Atlantic coast 

 than the eastern portions of North Carolina, nor have I ever seen it to the 

 west of the Alleghanies. It is a sluggish bird, and confines itself to the 

 meadows and low grounds bordering the rivers and salt-marshes, along our 

 bays and inlets. In such places you ma}' see it perched on a stake, where it 

 remains for hours at a time, unless some wounded bird comes in sight, when 

 it sails after it, and secures it without manifesting much swiftness of flight. 

 It feeds principally on moles, mice, and other small quadrupeds, and never 

 attacks a duck on the wing, although now and then it pursues a wounded one. 

 When not alarmed, it usually flies low and sedately, and does not exhibit 

 any of the courage and vigour so conspicuous in most other hawks, suffering 



