. The royal natural history. ially in the breeding-season, thesebirds will soar in circles high in the air, occasionally uttering their shrill andmelancholy whistle-like cry. After feeding, they usually take up their station on atree, from which, if disturbed, they fly in what appears to be a fi-ightened England, according to Professor Newton, the nest is usually in a tree; while inthe more mountainous districts of Scotland preference is given to rocks. The eggs,which are usually two or three, but occasionally four in number, much resemble 236 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. those of the red
. The royal natural history. ially in the breeding-season, thesebirds will soar in circles high in the air, occasionally uttering their shrill andmelancholy whistle-like cry. After feeding, they usually take up their station on atree, from which, if disturbed, they fly in what appears to be a fi-ightened England, according to Professor Newton, the nest is usually in a tree; while inthe more mountainous districts of Scotland preference is given to rocks. The eggs,which are usually two or three, but occasionally four in number, much resemble 236 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. those of the red kite. In America Captain Bendire relates that Swainsons buzzardhas been obseived nesting in harmonious association with other birds, especiallywith Arkansas kingbirds and shrikes; the nests of these birds being sometimesonly a few inches below those of the buzzards. Fossilised remains of the commonbuzzard have been found in caverns in Devonshire and Westmoreland; themetatarsus figured on p. 140 coming from the latter ife ^^ ^^^: BOUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD (I liat. size). Rough-Legged Although the rough-legged buzzards, of which there are but Buzzards, ^ery few species, differ from the true buzzards merely in having themetatarsus feathered right down to the toes, it is found convenient to distinguishthem by a separate generic name. Their range includes Central and NorthernEurope, Northern Asia, and the wliole of North America; the European speciessometimes straggling as far as South Africa. The European rough-legged buzzard(Archihuteo lagopus)—the species represented in our illustration—is a bird some-what larger than the common buzzard, and not exhibiting quite as nnicli individual SFARRO W-BA WKS. 237 variation in colour as the latter. Ranging over northern and central Europe andSiberia, this buzzard is met with yearly in the British Islands, where it sometimesoccurs in considerable numbers, more especially in the autunni and winter. Inthe case of such a variable bird i
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