THE COMMON BUZZARD 



{buteo vulgaris) 



A BIRD whose name bears such an epithet 

 ■^^ before it seems out of place in a volume like 

 the present ; but, alas ! " common " it can no longer 

 be called, it is only such in name, and is yearly 

 becoming rarer, probably becoming extinct if per- 

 secution be not relaxed. Formerly the Common 

 Buzzard was fully entitled to its name, being pretty 

 generally distributed throughout the British Islands. 

 Half a century ago this bird could not be called 

 rare ; five-and-twenty years ago we took a nest 

 ourselves in Derbyshire. The rarity of this species 

 now is largely due to the gamekeeper ; as one of 

 these worthies assured us many years ago, a 

 " Hawk as big as a coal-basket must do a tre- 

 mendous lot of harm." It has been ruthlessly shot 

 down accordingly, and that, too, without any 

 justifiable cause ; for the Buzzard is by no means 

 the enemy to game that sportsmen imagine, its 



