COMMON BUZZARD. 325 



and Mr. J. H. Wilson of Whitby, the specimen was submitted 

 for examination to Mr. W. Eagle Clarke and myself, and proved 

 to be a melanic male example of Montagu's Harrier. It is 

 now in the possession of the Marquis of Normanby at Mulgrave 

 Castle. 



COMMON BUZZARD. 



Buteo vulgaris {Leach.). 



Resident ; but confined to one or perhaps two pairs ; also an 

 irregular spring and autumn migrant. 



The earliest reference to this bird in Yorkshire appears to 

 have been made by Chas. Waterton of Walton Hall, the 

 accomplished and celebrated ornithologist, who, writing in 

 " Loudon's Magazine " (August 1835, VIII. p. 453), stated : — 

 " In 1813 I had my last sight of the Buzzard." 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : — 



Buteo vulgaris. — Common Buzzard — i\Iet with occasionally in most 

 parts of the county ; frequently near Doncaster, Huddersfield, and 

 Sheffield. 



This species, formerly one of the most abundant of the 

 larger British birds, is now exceedingly rare, having gradually 

 become scarcer since the gun came into general use. 



About the year 1850 it bred at Bishop's Wood, near Selby, 

 three pairs frequenting the wood annually. This information 

 was given by the late keeper, Mr. Wm. Harland, who used 

 to procure the young birds when a boy. At about the same 

 time it was abundant among the fells of Upper Wharfedale, 

 where the young and eggs were by no means rare. It has 

 nested near the summit of Great Whernside, from whence its 

 eggs have been procured ; and in 1863 two young birds were 

 obtained from a nest in the vicinity of Kilnsey in the same 

 valley. The late J. Tennant, in a MS. list supplied in the 

 year 1880, remarked that he had seen a Buzzard's egg taken 

 at Hebden Bridge, and, further, that the late J. Harrison of 

 Wilstrop knew of four nests at Merton Farm in one year. 



