ROUGH-LEGGED FALCON. 



57 



characteristic mark of this bird, is a belt, or girdle, of very 

 dark brown, passing round the belly just below the breast, 

 and reaching under the wings to the rump ; head, very 

 broad, and bill uncommonly small, suited to the humility of 

 its prey. 



The female is much darker, both above and below, parti- 

 cularly in the belt, or girdle, which is nearly black ; the tail- 

 coverts are also spotted with chocolate ; she is also something 

 larger* 



* From their different form, Buteo has been now adopted for the 

 buzzards. They will also rank in two divisions ; those with clothed, 

 and those with bare tarsi. The American species belonging to the first, 

 will be our present one, Wilson's Falco niger, and Audubon's F. Har- 

 lanii ; 1 to the second, Wilson's B. borealis, hyemalis, and the common 

 European buzzard, which was met with in the last Overland Arctic 

 Expedition. The buzzards are sluggish and inactive in their habits ; 

 their bills, feet, and claws, comparatively weak ; the form heavy, and 

 the plumage more soft and downy, as if a smooth flight was to supply 

 in part their want of activity. Their general flight is in sweeping circles, 

 after mounting from their resting-place. They watch their prey either 

 from the air, or on some tree or eminence, and sometimes pounce upon 

 it when sailing near the ground. When satiated, they again return to 

 their perch, and if undisturbed, will remain in one situation until hunger 

 again calls them forth. Our present species is one of the more active, 

 and is common also to the European continent. In Britain, it is an 

 occasional visitant. They seem to appear at uncertain intervals, in more 

 abundance; thus, in 1823, 1 received two beautiful specimens from East 

 Lothian ; and, in the same year, two or three more were killed on that 

 coast. Mr Selby mentions, that in the year 1815, Northumberland was 

 visited by them, and several specimens were obtained. He remarks, 

 "Two of these birds, from having attached themselves to a neighbouring 

 marsh, passed under my frequent observation. Their flight was smooth 

 but slow, and not unlike that of the common buzzard ; and they seldom 

 continued for any length of time on the wing. They preyed upon wild 

 ducks and other birds, frogs and mice, which they mostly pounced upon 

 on the ground." They appear to prefer trees for their breeding-place, 

 whereas rocks, and the sides of deep ravines, are more frequently selected 

 by the common buzzard. No instance has occurred of them breeding in 

 this country. In plumage, they vary as much as the common species, 

 the colour of the upper parts being of lighter or darker shades ; the 



1 See description of F. Niger. 



