Volume 20, Plate XVII / Ornithology (Birds)

Rough-Legged Buzzard

Buteo lagopus

A more uncommon species than the Common Buzzard, the Rough-legged Buzzard visits Britain only occasionally, appearing with some regularity in southern England and irregularly northward, sometimes in profusion. Shy and wary, it favours low hunting grounds and preys on water-fowl, small mammals, frogs, and toads, pouncing rather than pursuing; its flight is smooth, slow, and noiseless, and it breeds on lofty trees, laying white eggs spotted with reddish brown.