148 1(777/ NATUHE AXl) A CAMKRA. 



A Scottish game-watcher once told me that wlien- 

 ever he shot a lien Raven as she Hew off her nest, 

 if he could not secure the egg's the cock always 

 devoured them, and tlien went off in search of a 

 fresh mate. 



Whilst in the Highlands of Scotland \\\\ Ijrother 

 was shown a projecting crag covered with grass and 

 moss, in the side of a corrie, upon which a j^oung 

 gamekeeper told him a male Buzzard deposited 

 food for his sitting mate, whose nest was situated 

 some forty or fift)' feet away. It had then lying 

 upon it one young rabbit, not (piite half-grown, 

 and fragments of others, Imt so far as he could 

 see no birds of any kind. As it was in a fairly 

 accessible position he descended to it, and made a 

 photograph, which is here reproduced. 



Although I do not think the common l^uzzard 

 is regarded as a particularly dangerous bird by 

 game preservers, it is trapped in the following- 

 manner : A young rabbit is killed, and after being 

 partly flayed is tied down in a sprhig or small 

 stream. This done, a little knoll is built close beside 

 it, and a trap, carefully hidden by moss, jjlaced on 

 the top. No sooner has the unsuspecting bird 

 espied the tempting meal than it either alights 

 on the knoll or drags the carrion thei-eon to 

 devour it, and is caught by one or l)oth legs, as 

 shown in (jur ilhisti-ation on the preceding page, 

 wliicli is from a i)hotograph takcMi in the Hebrides. 



The lied ({rouse is the only bird which Ave 

 can claim as purely indigenous to the British 

 Isles. Incredible sums are now sp(Mit every yeai- 

 for the i)rivilege of rearing and shooting the bird; 

 and so exhihu-ating is tlie sport that I have known 

 well-to-do fai-mers tramp lliii-ty oi- Ibi'iy miles a 

 day as l)e:itei-s j'oi' ihree shillings and sixpence and 



