( 112 ) 



out of tbe (inestion ; and tliouyrh oiio may often wnlk boldly np to within a 

 hnudred yards, jnst as one begins to hope for a shot the bird slijjs quietly oif 

 and settles on some ecjnally unapproachable tree. 



With a small -SSO rifle it would be easy to collect numbers, but unfortunately 

 we had not brought one with us. Lonp: shots with a IvJ-borc arc seldom iiny use, 

 unless one is Inclcy cnonuh to break a wing, as the Buzzard will carry away a 

 heavy charge without turning a feather. However, opportunities occur from time 

 to time, especially on wet, misty days, when the birds seldom leave their perch 

 unless disturlied, and we gradually collected a long series of specimens of all 

 ages, half of which were shot and the remainder tra])ped. Traps are much the 

 easiest means of securing these birds, a dead rat or rabbit being a safe bait. 



On Terceira, where we procured most of the finest and oldest specimens, 

 four traps were placed round a dead rat in an especially favourable position, and 

 we caught four buzzards in two days, a jiair being secured simultaneously. On 

 one other occasion we met with a similar success : on the last morning of our 

 trip two traps, placed on either side of a rabbit on a ridge below the crater of 

 Fayal, secured two male birds. On Graciosa, where we found the Buzzard more 

 numerous than on any other island, almost all the specimens were shot. Near 

 the village of Funchal, on the west side of the island, there was an old orange 

 Qninta, surrounded by high walls and fringed by large trees. As an owl was 

 reported to have been seen there, we visited the spot one evening, and had scarcely 

 got inside the garden when eight buzzards got on the wing, and before they had 

 time to escape two successful rights and lefts stopped four. This was our greatest 

 success, for though on another occasion on Fayal we shot three, they fell amongst 

 dense wet faya-covert, and we only succeeded in finding one. 



The Buzzard does not appear to breed very early jn the Azores, and it was 

 not till we landed on Pico in the middle of May, that we found a j)air nesting in 

 the rocks at the top of a small crater densely clad with high bush. A little 

 earlier in the month we trapped a tine female on San Jorge, containing a large 

 egg almost ready to be laid. A male trapped on the latter island managed to 

 break the strings and go oflf with a trap on either foot ; but so weighted be 

 was unable to rise, and after a hunt we luckily secured him about a hundred 

 yards from the bait.] 



84. Cerchneis tinnunculus (L.). 



F(tli-u Thiiiiiiicnliis Linnaeus, Si/st. Nut. Ed. x. p. ',iO (ITfiH : " Habitat in Europae turribus," typ. 

 loc. Sweden : the first quotation being " 7n. suec. 07 "). 



A female which I examined belongs to tbe common European form. 

 [The Common Kestrel is an occasional visitor to tbe Azores. 

 Specimens in Ponta Delgada Museum : 



0. Sete Cidades, San Miguel. 



L Ponta Delgada, ,, ,, 



c. Ribeira Grande, „ „ 



A fourth specimen, killed at Arrifes, San Miguel, was i)resented to the British 

 Museum.] 



x"). [Falco peregrinus L. ? 



A single Falcon, almost certainly of Ihis species, was seen by me flying from 

 Lameiro, on the north coast oi' San Miguel, towards the bills of the interior.] 



