Besides the twelve species of the order Accipitres described, all of which breed in the British Islands, there are fourteen others, which, although described as British in the standard ornithological works, are only occasional or accidental visitors or stragglers to our shores. There are two vultures to be mentioned: the griffon vulture (_Gyps fulvus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe, Africa, and Asia, once obtained in Ireland; and the Egyptian vulture (_Neophron percnopterus_), an inhabitant of Southern Europe and Africa, twice obtained. The next species is the marsh-harrier (_Circus æruginosus_), once abundant throughout Great Britain and Ireland, now, unhappily, extinct as a British species. This harrier, which was also called the moor-buzzard, is a graceful, handsome bird: the head creamy white; upper parts brown; beneath, buff, streaked with brown and chestnut; part of the wing and the tail silvery grey. In its buoyant flight and preying and nesting habits it resembles the hen harrier, but frequents fens and marshes instead of moors and uplands. The rough-legged buzzard (_Archibuteo lagopus_) is an irregular visitor, chiefly in autumn and winter, from the northern parts of Europe. It differs from the common buzzard in having its legs feathered to the toes--hence the specific name, _lagopus_--rough-footed like a hare. This species is of more frequent occurrence in the British Islands than any other occasional visitor among the diurnal raptors, and in some years it appears in considerable numbers. The spotted eagle (_Aquila clanga_), known to us as a rare occasional visitor, breeds in the forests of central and south-eastern Europe. More interesting to us is the goshawk (_Astur palumbarius_), since this fine bird of prey, although now a very rare straggler to Great Britain, is believed to have been formerly an indigenous species, and to have bred in Scotland down to the beginning of the present century. In form, colouring, and manner of preying it resembles the sparrow-hawk, but is nearly double the size of that bird, and flies at very much larger game.