214 Common Buzzard 



Argyllshire where the Buzzard is not uncommon as a breeding 

 species. 



This glen runs east and west : it is rather a gloomy place ; 

 the winter sun never reaches the northern face, which is rugged and 

 precipitous, clothed with scrubby trees almost up to the summit 

 (about 1,500 feet). The other side has a more genial aspect, but the 

 timber is limited to the low ground ; above this are grass-covered 

 slopes, and then the bare rock-face rising to 3,000 feet. 



It is on the bleak, northern, wooded side that the Buzzard 

 generally makes his home. The nest is often built in a tree. I 

 have seen oak, ash and birch tenanted at one time or another. 

 More rarel}-, the nest is placed on the bare ledges of the rock. 



Where a tree is selected for nesting purposes, the Buzzards 

 have a most extraordinary habit of decoratmg the nest with fresh, 

 leafy twigs, imtil such time as the young are old enough to leave the 

 nest. 



In June, 1915, I took a brood of four nearly full-grown nestlings 

 for my collection. The keeper had closely watched the nest for the 

 preceding five weeks. When he found it, it contained four hard- 

 set eggs ; it was built in a gnarled, stunted ash, well up the hill, 

 and overhanging a rocky precipice. He was able to get a very good 

 view into the nest from the rocks above, and he examined it with 

 his telescope two or three times every week. 



The ash is a tree that comes into leaf rather late. When he 

 first found the nest, the tree was bare of leaves, and the nest was 

 represented by a bundle of dry sticks. Directly the leaves of the 

 ash began to expand, the Buzzard started planting small, leafy 

 twigs into the circumference of the nest. But the most curious part 

 <jf this proceeding was that they selected leaves from some other 

 kind of tree than that in which the nest was built, mostly rowan 

 or birch, more rarely beech, but never at any time twigs from the 

 ash. 



The keeper had this nest under fairly constant observation 

 for fully five weeks. He found the decorations were always kept 

 fresh, and must have been frequently renewed, possibly every day. 



If, as seems natural, this decoration of the nest is done with 

 the object of better concealment from enemies, human or otherwise, 

 why in the world do the birds gather their leaves from some other 

 tree than that which they have chosen for their nesting-site ? When 

 the eggs were first laid in the nest, and the ash-tree was perfectly 

 bare, they were far too wise to indulge in any decoration, though all 

 the earlier trees had expanded foliage by that date. When at long 

 last the ash-tree comes into leaf, they leave its foliage severely alone 

 and gather their material from a rowan, or birch or beech ! 



One can imagine their not wanting to strip their own nesting- 

 tree of twigs and leaves, for it wasn't any too big to start with, 

 and a handful of twigs pulled off every day might have made the 

 nest more conspicuous. But why not get supplies of ash-leaves 



