100 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
§ 2. With the tarsi partly feathered, 
SHORT-WINGED BUZZARD. 
(. Falco * Buteoides. Nobis. F. Buteo, Pennant, not of Lin. Arctic 
Zool. yol. i. p. 241.) 
Spec, Charact. — Dusky brown ; beneath yellowish-white with 
oblanceolate dusky spots ; wings not extending to the end of the 
tail ; tail dusky with about 9 bars and tipped with dull white ; 
cere and legs yellow. — Male, darker, with hastate spots on the 
femorals, and the external feathers of the tail wholly dusky, the 
under ones barred only on their inner vanes ; also more inclined 
to ferruginous beneath, and with the throat scarcely spotted. — 
Female , 4 inches longer, lighter, with the tail distinctly barred, 
and the femorals scarcely spotted. 
This large American Buzzard is not uncommon in 
this vicinity, but more abundant towards winter. He 
appears to have very much the manners of the European 
Buzzard, remaining inactive for hours together on the 
edges of wet meadows, perched upon the larger limbs of 
trees, and at times keeping up a regular quailing and 
rather hoarse lceig7i-oo keigh-oo, which, at intervals, is 
answered by his mate. When approached he commonly 
steals off to some other tree at no great distance from the 
first, but if the pursuit be continued, he flies out and 
hovers at a considerable height. His prey is probably 
mice, frogs, and reptiles ; and in New York he possesses, 
according to Pennant, the name of the Great Hen-Hawk, 
from his occasional depredations on the poultry, a fault 
with which he is seldom charged here. Pennant also adds, 
that it continues in that state the whole year, and lays 5 
eggs in the month of May. It is also an inhabitant of 
Hudson’s Bay and Newfoundland. The true Buzzard 
is said to be of a cowardly and indolent disposition ; con- 
structing, in old oaks and birch-trees, a nest of small 
branches, or taking possession of one deserted by the 
Crows, and lining it with wool and other soft substances, 
