BIRD BONES FROM HELSFELL, WESTMORLAND 



lix 



mine. Buzzard. — So far as I am aware, the only fossil remains refer- 

 able to the Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris) hitherto recorded from British 

 deposits are three specimens in the British Museum, obtained 

 from Brixham Cave, near 

 Torquay, 1 in association with 

 remains of extinct mammals. 

 It is, therefore, interesting to 

 find this species represented 

 in the prehistoric fauna of 

 the Lake District. The speci- 

 mens referable to this species 

 are a tarso-metatarsus and 

 ulna, both of the left side, 

 and probably belonging to a 

 single individual. The former 

 bone, of which four views are 

 given in the accompanying 

 woodcut, may be recognised 

 at a glance as that of an 

 Accipitrine bird. Some of the 

 characteristic Accipitrine fea- 

 tures are to be found in the 

 triangular shaft, with its sharp 

 ridge in front and deep groove 

 behind; in the laterally ex- 

 panded contour of the upper 

 surface, with the two promi- 

 nent condyles of the talon ; 

 and in the nearly even line 

 formed by the three trochleas 

 at the lower end for the arti- 

 culation of the toe-bones. 

 The tarso-metatarsus of the 

 genus Buteo is shorter than 

 that of Circus (Harrier), and 

 larger than that of Milvus 

 agrees in all respects with 



f„ — 1 



Upper (A), front (B), lower (0), and back (-D), 

 views of the left tarso-metatarsus of the Buzzard 

 (Buteo vulgaris), a. Tubercli for insertion of 

 tibialis anticus ; b. perforation in the extensor 

 fossa of the digits ; c. inner condyle of talon ; 

 d. external do. (broken) ; /. foramen between 

 third and fourth metatarsals ; li. facet for the 

 hallux. 



(Kite). The present specimen 

 the corresponding bone of a 



1 See Cat. Foss. Birds Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1891). 



