Gould commented that travellers in Europe often saw 'a large, heavy bird perched on a dead stump, or on an exposed branch of a tree by the roadside or in a neighbouring field.' Unfortunately it had been so much persecuted in England that it was 'almost a bird of the past'. Ignorant gamekeepers were the buzzard's greatest enemy; for they thought only of their employer's game interests 'their greatest pride being a well-stored larder of Hawks, Jays and Pies, and a wood full of Pheasants'.

The buzzard's plumage was variable, some birds were nearly all purplish-black, some 'narrowly rayed with brownish-white' and others speckled and blotched with brown. Wolf illustrated a pair of light coloured birds, the finest Gould had seen, owned by John Noble, of Taplow, Buckinghamshire, which were three or four years old. The smaller bird in the background was drawn from an unusually dark specimen.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds northwest, central and south-central Eurasia, east and east-central Asia. Winters south to west and northwest Africa, and from southern Europe south to southern Africa and east to north India, China, Japan south to Sri Lanka, Malaya and Taiwan