GIBB : ROUGH LEGGED BUZZARD. 



249 



will mount in the air, reaching a high altitude by means of repeated spiral 

 curves. At such times he greatly resembles the eagle in his soaring and 

 bouyant flight. For ^what purpose this aerial voyage is undertaken consi- 

 dering the usual sluggishness of his nature, — and that it can have little or 

 nothing to do with the capture^of its prey, liis^ invariable method of securing 

 it, rendering such a procedure unnecessary, — I cannot determine ; but it 

 proves that he has the faculty and vigour to remain as long on the wing as the 

 most robust falcon. In most instances when a capture is made, he carries the 

 quarry to some slightly elevated position to devour it. In the autumn of 1853, 

 I chanced to be^ with a friend in the woods bordering the river St. John's 

 in I^ew Brunswick, in search of Tetra umhellus, when, suddenly emerging 

 into a clearing, over which was dotted the " everlasting black stumps," in- 

 inseparable from such localities, we discovered a large bird sitting on one of 

 them, which my companion deliberately approached and shot. It proved 

 to be a very fine rough legged' buzzard. The singular inactivity and slothful 

 indifference exhibited by the bird proved to us the wide difference that 

 exists between him and the more wary and active Ger-falcon. 



Another incident which occurred to myself, shortly afterwards in New 

 Jersey, U. S., is perhaps still more strikingly illustrative of his character. I 

 had just fired off several shots at the edge of a pine wood and when in the act 

 of reloading my gun I descried a rough legged buzzard sitting on an adjacent 

 tree, which I shot without moving from the place where my last shot had 

 been fired — but it is necessary to state that in this instance the bird was 

 greatly gorged. 



Although I have been in localities where they abound in considerable 

 numbers, yet, I have never been able to discover their nest. Temminick 

 however informs us that " it nestles on large trees, laying four eggs spotted 

 reddish." 



Alniuick, November, 1865. 



Since writing the foregoing notes I have examined a second individual 

 captured on the Kealder Moors, ranging along the south western portion 

 of ISTorthumberland. It is a male and altogether much darker and richer 

 in colour than the one I have endeavoured already to describe. Its dimen- 

 sions are 20^ inches long ; expanse of wings, 50 inches ; wing from flexure 

 joint, 16 J inches ; tail,^9 inches ; weight, 28-J ounces. 



