BUTEO VULGARIS. 
Common Buzzard. 
Falco buteo, Linn. Syst. Nat, tom. i. p. 127. 
communis fuscus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 270. 
cinereus, Gmel. ib., p. 267. 
variegatus, Gmel. ib., p. 267. 
versicolor, Gmel. ib., p. 267. 
obsoletus, Gmel. ib., p. 268. 
glmtcopis, Merr. Beytr., ii. p. 7. 
pojana, Savi, Orn. Tosc., tom. i. p. 29. 
mutans, Vieill. Faun. Fran 9 ., p. 17, pi. 8. fig. 2. 
fasciatus, Vieill. ib., pi. 8. fig. 1. 
Buteo vulgaris, Bechst. Flem. Brit. Anim., vol. i. p. 64. 
cinereus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 18, Buteo, sp. 1. 
commimis, Less. Traite d’Orn., p. 78. 
fuscus, Macgill. Hist, of Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 183. 
variabilis, Bailly, Orn. Sav., tom. i. p. 127. 
Accipiter buteo, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 406. 
Those who have travelled through Germany, France, and the central parts of Europe must have frequently 
seen a large heavy-looking bird perched on a dead stump, or on an exposed branch of a tree by the roadside 
or in a neighbouring field. This is the Common Buzzard, which eighty or a hundred years ago, before 
our forests had been enclosed or crossed by the fire-king, when every journey had to be made on horse- 
back, daily met the gaze of the traveller in every English county ; for the bird was then plentiful, from the 
Land’s End to John o’ Groats. At the present moment it is rarely, if ever, seen ; in fact it has so nearly 
departed from among us, that it may almost be considered as a bird of the past, for it is only in great woods 
like the New Forest, the more thickly timbered parts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland that it may be looked 
for with any certainty of its being found. Twice have I seen it sailing over the great woods of Tregothnan 
in Cornwall, the seat of Viscount Falmouth : but these I suspect were only chance visitants ; for the keeper 
was alert, and intended a closer acquaintance the first spare moment he had to devote to them. Tliis is 
the line of conduct of all keepers — a class of men assiduously devoted to the interests of their employers 
in the preservation of their game, but in many cases profoundly ignorant of the highly Important offices 
our English birds are destined to fulfil. It is surprising that the buoyant and elegant evolutions of the larger 
Raptorial birds should not be regarded by them with interest and pleasure ; but this is never the case, and 
I fear they are the most deadly enemies our birds have to encounter, their greatest pride being a well-stored 
larder of Hawks, Jays, and Pies, and a wood full of Pheasants. 
The Buzzard has but few friends ; his stealthy, prowling habits are against him. A leveret is never 
safe in a field overshadowed by his huge wings ; a rabbit, a young pheasant, or other game-bird is equally 
acceptable ; so that he really is a troublesome fellow. One would like, nevertheless, that even this vagrant 
among the Falconidce should not be entirely struck out from the Birds of Great Britain. I fear, however, 
that such will soon be the case. 
The Common Buzzard is subject to so many variations, both in size and colour, that it is v^ery difficult to find 
two examples precisely alike. It not unfrequently happens that while one may be of a nearly uniform 
purplish black, others are narrowly rayed with brownish white on their breasts and thighs, and others, 
again, have light breasts, richly blotched and guttated with brown. These differences do not appear to be 
regular stages in the change of plumage, but to be variations subject to no fixed law. Some of these 
v'arieties may be seen among tbe individuals in the menagerie of the Zoological Society. The finest 
pair I have ever seen are now living at Berry Hill, the seat of John Noble, Esq., at Taplow, in Buck- 
inghamshire. It is from this pair that Mr. Wolf made the fine drawing copied on the accompanying 
Plate ; and my thanks are due to Mr. Noble for his kindness in permitting them to be figured in the present 
work : they hav^e been tenants of a large cage for three or four years, and are fully adidt 5 they appear to be 
of different sexes, and, as will be seen, are very light in the colouring of the breast. The chocolate-coloured 
bird represented in the reduced figure was killed at Somerleyton, and is, I believe, a bird of the year, and an 
unusually dark variety. 
As my friend. Sir William Jardine, has written a very characteristic sketch of the Buzzard in his ‘British 
Birds,’ I feel it is only an act of justice to him, to quote the most important passages. 
