Common Buzzard 215 



from somewhere else ? There were several ash trees within easy 

 reach oi the nest ; it would liave been as simple to gather from them 

 as from the birch or rowan, and yet they never made use of one 

 single ash-twig, but always selected some alien species. 



It is a problem of some interest. Firstly, what is the Buzzard's 

 intention in this leafy decoration, and, secondly, why are they so 

 careless in matching their material ? Do the strange leaves appeal 

 in some way to their aesthetic sense, or are they such poor botanists 

 that the\' cannot recognise the difference between an ash and a 

 birch ? 



As to food, the Scotcli Buzzards appear to feed very largely on 

 rabbits. In tlic case of the nest I have just described, there were 

 numerous rabbit remains on the rocks below the trees, and some 

 bones and fleshy remains of rabbit on the edge of the nest ; there was 

 also the portion of an ancient skeleton of a red Grouse with entire 

 leg and foot. The four nestlings were packed with the flesh and fur 

 of young rabbits. 



In Table III is a detailed list of the contents of the crop and 

 stomach of those Common Buzzards that have come into my hands. 

 The majority of the Scotch birds were feeding on rabbits and nothing 

 else. One contained parts of a hare and blackbird, one the remains 

 of a wood-pigeon, and one a field-vole. 



I have only two Suffolk specimens : in them the diet was more 

 varied, and neither had been feeding on rabbit. One had a slow- 

 worm, a bivalve shell and bones of a rat, the other contained remains 

 of a frog, including one leg entire. 



In Scotland, the Buzzard is a resident, and has every opportunity 

 of knowing the ground he lives on. In Suffolk, in these days, he 

 is only a very casual visitor, and possibly has to pick up the food 

 that comes easiest to hand. At any rate, the crop-contents are 

 infinitely more varied in these East-Anglian birds. 



Mr. Gunn very kindly sent me the following notes on a Norfolk 

 specimen (not in my collection), shot (17th Sept., 1881) whilst 

 flying over Oulton Broad : "It had apparently stumbled across 

 quite a larder of good things, which it seemed to have swallowed 

 indiscriminately. The crop contained an entire dor-beetle, the 

 remains of a second one, the full-grown larva of a Privet-Hawk- 

 Moth, swallowed in three parts, a small toad entire and a frog in 

 parts. The stomach was filled with a semi-digested mass 

 consisting of frog-bones, beetles and a small larva (not identified) ; 

 this had not been affected by the gastric juice, and must have been 

 the last morsel passed into the stomach. Even the gullet was 

 filled with frog- and toad-remains ; in fact the bird was completely 

 gorged with food." 



Few Raptorial birds vary more in plumage, a variation which 

 is quite independent of sex or age ; some have breasts so dark as 

 to be almost black, others are nearl}- white, and there is every 

 intermediate stage between the two. 



