5S0 



ON SOME SPECIES OF THE 



which increase in size as they approach the 

 belly 



The third, and most common variety, is that de- 

 scribed as the Falco apivorus, the Honey Buzzard 

 of the English ornithologists. The legs, as in 

 the preceding varieties, are yellow. Head, ash- 

 coloured. Upper parts, brown. Under parts 

 white, and either spotted or barred with rusty- 

 brown, according to the age of the individual. 

 The younger birds, like the preceding variety, be- 

 ing marked on the breast and belly with longitu- 

 dinal-shaped spots, which in the adults are dis- 

 posed in regular bars. The tail is brown, and 

 barred with different shades of the same colour. 

 These bars seem to vary in number, as Linnaeus 

 says there is only one, Latham two, and Pen- 

 nant three, and tlie specimen described by Al- 

 BiN was without any bars on the tail. 



From the preceding description, it will be seen, 

 that these varieties are intimately connected, and 

 doubtless, if many specimens could be procured 

 of different ages, and from various climates, they 

 would be found to approach each other by almost 

 imperceptible gradations. 



* The F, variegatus, Bechstein considers to be a variety of 

 F, huteo. 



