COMMON BUZZARD. 
31 
time motionless on the bough of a tree, watching patiently for some small 
quadruped, bird, or reptile to pass within its reach. As soon as it espies 
its prey, it glides silently into the air, and, sweeping easily and rapidly 
down, seizes it in its claws. When disturbed, it makes a short circuit, and 
soon settles on another perch. It builds its nest on a tree, of short sticks, 
lining it sparingly with deer’s hair. The eggs, from three to five in 
number, are equal in size to those of the domestic fowl, and have a 
greenish-white colour, with a few large dark-brown blotches at the thick 
end. It was seen by the Expedition as far north as the fifty-seventh 
parallel of latitude, and it most probably has a still higher range.” 
Buteo vulgaris, Common Buzzard, Rich. & Sw. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 47. 
Common Buzzard, Falco buteo , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 108. 
Female. 
Bill short, strong, as broad as deep at the base, compressed toward the 
end. Upper mandible cerate, its dorsal outline declinate and little convex 
as far as the cere, then decurved, the sides rapidly sloping, towards the 
end nearly perpendicular but convex, the edge with a slight festoon, the 
tip trigonal, acute ; lower mandible with the angle short and rounded, the 
dorsal line convex and ascending, the edges sharp, arched, at the end de- 
flected, the tip rounded. Nostrils irregularly obovate, in the fore part of 
the cere, nearer the ridge than the margin. 
Head large, roundish, flattened above ; neck rather short ; body full. 
Feet short, robust ; tarsi roundish, anteriorly feathered half-way down, 
anteriorly scutellate, laterally reticulate, postei’iorly also scutellate ; the 
lower part all round covered with series of small scales, as are the toes for 
half their length, the terminal portion being scutellate ; they are strong, 
of moderate length, the hind toe stouter, with four large scutella, the inner 
with four, the middle with about eight, and connected at the base by a web 
with the outer, which has four large scutella. Claws long, arched, com- 
pressed, tapering to a point, flat beneath. 
Plumage ordinary, full, rather blended beneath. Space between the bill 
and eye covered with bristly feathers ; eyelids with soft downy feathers, 
and ciliate ; the superciliary ridge prominent. Feathers of the head and 
nock ovato-oblong, of the back and breast ovate and rounded, of the sides 
and outer part of the leg elongated, of the rest of the leg short. Wings 
long, broad, the fourth quill longest, the third next, the fifth very little 
short'er, the second longer than the fifth, the first and seventh about equal ; 
first four abruptly cut out on the inner web ; secondaries broad and 
rounded. Tail rather long, broad, slightly rounded. 
