jLINNEAN GENUS FALCO. 



579 



l^rown spots. Tail brown, barred, and spotted 

 with white ^. 



The second, and connecting variety, is the Falco 

 ruariegatiis of Gmelin, the Speckled Buzzard of 

 Latham's Synopsis, and Buzzardet of the Arctic 

 Zoology. The head and neck are v/hitish ; the 

 shaft of each feather irregularly marked with 

 rusty-brown. The prevailing colour of the upper 

 plumage is brown, but several of the feathers, 

 especially on the wing-covevts, are spotted with 

 white. The tail is dark brown, crossed by seve- 

 ral nearly obselete bands of a paler .hue. Under 

 parts white, with longitudinal brown spots. 



* The German ornithologists consider the F, albidus as a dis- 

 tinct species, but nearly allied to the F. buteo of Linn. Becker 

 says, he has examined it in its young and old state, and con- 

 siders it as a distinct species, and in this opinion he is followed 

 by Bechstein, who is further inchned to consider Pennant's 

 Buzzardet as a variety of the F, albidus. 



Cuvier, on the other hand, is of opinion that the Faho conin 

 munis fuscusj F. variegatus, F, albidus, F. versicolor, Gm. " ne 

 sont que differens etats de la buse ordinaire." 



In regard to the F. versicolor, the Spotted Falcon of the Bri- 

 tish Zoology, I may remark, that Dr Shaw, in his General 

 Zoology, gives it as a variety of the Common Falcon. Mon- 

 tagu, from its superior size and predominance of white plu- 

 mage, suspects it to be a variety of the Ger^Falcom 



