NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 81 



number on the Continent, where F. von Tschudi tells us it 

 preys largely, in Switzerland, " on lizards, slow-worms, snakes, 

 rats, mice, and moles, and even on large insects," etc. In the 

 south and midland districts of Scotland, also, four eggs are not 

 uncommonly obtained; and in 1869 I knew of two nests having 

 been found, each containing four eggs ; but in one of these instances 

 two of the eggs Avere addled. 



That the Buzzard is sometimes hard enough pressed for food, 

 the following fact, related to me by an old and experienced 

 gamekeeper, would seem partially to prove. On one occasion 

 he shot a Common Buzzard, which had a newly-killed weasel in 

 one of its feet. One of the Buzzard',3 sharp claws had entered 

 the side of its victim's head, so that death had in all probability 

 been instantaneous ; had it been otherwise, the Buzzard might 

 perhaps have discovered that he had caught a Tartar. Nor can I 

 imagine that a weasel would prove a dainty morsel even to the 

 " degraded " taste of Buteo vulgaris. 



HEN HAEEIER. 



. CIRCUS CYANEUS {Linnaeus). 



Common in some parts of Sutherland, perhaps most so in 

 the north-east. This species, like other raptorial birds, frequently 

 returns to the same hillside, year after year, during the nesting 

 season, generally breeding amongst tall old heather, but occasionally 

 resorting to very bare open spots on the moors. Old white males 

 are not unfrequently seen, though naturally not so common as the 

 younger examples. The female is easily obtained during the 

 breeding season, either as she rises off the nest, or when, having 

 risen, she repeatedly returns and passes overhead, uttering her 

 tremulous kestrel-like cry. The male, however, is a very shy bird, 

 generally keeping at a distance from the nest, perched upon some 

 grey stone or tussock of heather. He is seldom indeed observed 

 near the nest at all, although upon occasions I have witnessed both 

 male and female wheeling about in close proximity to it. The cry 

 of the male upon such occasions seemed more prolonged than that 

 of the female. 



When the Hen Harrier hunts for prey, it skims over the surface 

 of the moors, backwards and forwards, taking in every square- 

 yard of ground, and when it discovers ^ Grouse on its nest, or a 



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