NATURALISTS have distinguished the buzzards from the eagles and hawks by their habits and dispositions, which they compare to those of the vultures, and place them after those birds. Though possessed of strength, agility, and weapons to defend themselves, they are cowardly, inactive, and slothful; they will fly before a sparrow-hawk, and when overtaken, will suffer themselves to be beaten, and even brought to the ground, without resistance.

The buzzard is about twenty inches in length, and four feet in breadth, from tip to tip of the wings: its head is large, and armed with a short hooked bill. The plumage on the upper part of the body is of a darkish dun; the belly of a yellowish white, with rusty spots on the breast: the thighs are large, and feathered below the knee; and the legs and feet are covered with scales.

This bird is well known in England, and is of a sedentary and indolent disposition; it continues for many hours perched upon a tree or eminence, whence it darts upon the game that comes within its reach: it feeds upon small quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. Its nest is constructed with small branches, lined in the inside with wool and other soft materials; it lays two or three eggs, of a whitish colour, spotted with yellow. It feeds and tends its young with great assiduity.

THIS bird's length is about twenty-one inches: the bill is black; ceres and eyes, yellow; the whole crown of the head is of a yellowish white, lightly tinged with brown; the throat is of a light rust colour; the rest of the plumage is of a redish brown, with pale edges; the greater wing-coverts are tipped with white; the legs are yellow; and the claws black.

The moor-buzzard preys on rabbits, young wild ducks, and other water fowl; and likewise feeds on fishes, frogs, reptiles, and even insects; its haunts are in hedges and bushes, near pools, marshes, and rivers, that abound with fish. It builds its nest a little above the surface of the ground, or in hillocks covered with thick herbage: the female lays three or four eggs of a whitish colour, irregularly sprinkled with dusky spots. Though smaller, it is more active and bold than the common buzzard; and when pursued, it faces its antagonist, and makes a vigogorous defence.

Birds of this kind vary much; in some the crown and back part of the head are yellow; and some have been seen uniformly of a chocolate brown, with a tinge of rust colour.

THIS is a very elegant bird, and is larger than the goshawk. Its bill is much hooked, and yellow; the iris is dusky; the throat white, as is likewise the general colour of the plumage, but spotted with brown; the breast and belly are marked wilh lines, pointed downwards; the spots on the back and wings are larger; the feathers on the thighs are very long, and of a pure white; those of the tail are barred; the legs are of a pale blue, and feathered below the knee. This bird is a native of the cold and dreary climates of the north, and is found in Russia, Norway, and Iceland: it is never seen in warm, and seldom in temperate climates: it is found, but rarely, in Scotland and the Orkneys. Next to the eagle, it is found to be the most formidable, the most active, and the most intrepid of all voracious birds, and is the dearest, and most esteemed for falconry. It is transported from Iceland and Russia into France, Italy, and even into Persia and Turkey; nor does the heat of those climates appear to diminish its strength or blunt its vivacity. It boldly attacks the largest of the feathered race; the stork, the heron, and the crane, are easy victims; it kills hares by darting directly upon them. The female, as in all other birds of prey, is much larger and stronger than the male, which is used in falconry to catch the kite, the heron, and the crow.

There is another of this tribe, called the peregrine, or passenger falcon, which is rarely met with in Britain, and consequently is but little known with us: it is about the

size of the former; its bill is blue, black at the point; ceres and irides yellow; the upper parts of the body are elegantly marked with bars of blue and black; the breast is of a yellowish white, marked with a few small dusky lines; the belly, thighs, and vent, are of a greyish white, crossed with dusky bands; the quills are dusky, spotted with white; the tail is finely barred with blue and black; the legs are yellow; and the claws black.

THIS bird is somewhat longer than the buzzard, but slenderer and more beautiful; its length is one foot ten inches: its bill is blue, tipped with black; ceres green; and eyes yellow: over each eye there is a whitish line: the head, and all the upper parts of the body, are of a deep brown colour; each side of the neck is irregularly marked with white: the breast and belly are white, with a number of wavy lines, or bars of black; the tail is long, of an ash colour, and crossed with four or five dusky bars, the legs are yellow, and the claws black; the wings are much shorter than the tail.-It feeds on mice and small birds, and eagerly devours raw flesh; it plucks the birds very neatly, and tears them into pieces before it eats them, but swallows the pieces entire; and frequently disgorges the hair rolled up in small pellets.

The goshawk is found in France and Germany; it is not very common in this country, but is more frequent in Scotland; it is likewise common in North America, Russia,

and Siberia: in Chinese Tartary there is a variety which is mottled with brown and yellow, that are used for sporting by the nobility.

THIS bird is somewhat larger than a common pigeon: the bill is short and hooked, the tail rather long, and the legs slender and of a redish colour. The plumage on the wings and upper parts of the body is brown, spotted with a yellowish dun; the lower parts in some are whitish; in others of a russet colour.

The female builds her nest in hollow trees, high rocks, or lofty ruins, sometimes in the old nest of a crow, and generally lays four or five eggs marked with redish spots at the longer end. Its bill is blue, and furnished with bristles at the base, which overhang the nostrils; the colour of the eye is bright orange; the head is flat at the top, and above each eye is a strong bony projection; a few scattered spots of white form a faint line running backwards towards the neck: the top of the head and all the upper parts of the body are of a dusky brown colour; on the back part of the head there is a faint line of white; the scapulars are marked with two spots of white on each feather; the greater quill feathers, and the tail, are dusky, with four bars of a darker hue on each; the inner edges of all the quills are marked with two or more large white spots; the tips of the tail feathers are white; the breast, belly, and under coverts of the wings and thighs, are white, beautifully barred with brown; the throat is faintly streaked with brown: the legs and feet are yellow; claws black.

The sparrow-hawk is very numerous in various parts of the world, from Russia to the Cape of Good Hope. It