BUZZARDS 19 



As to the food of the Common Buzzard, W. T. 

 Andrews, taxidermist of Swansea, having examined 

 many specimens at all seasons of the year, states 

 that he has never found any feathers in the crop, 

 but invariably partly-digested fragments of the com- 

 mon mole {Field, Jan. 1877). In 1898 I watched 

 a Common Buzzard in Wales feeding on earth- 

 worms. It hopped about on the ground looking 

 for them, and on seeing one, would draw it out 

 of the soil, bite it in several pieces about an inch 

 in length, and swallow each separately. Several 

 instances are on record of tame Buzzards hatching 

 hens' eggs. (See Yarrell, "Brit. Birds," 4th ed. i. 

 p. Ill; Zool., 1881, p. 106, and Proc. Linn. Soc, 

 1898, Nov. 3.) These cases show a conflict of two 

 distinct impulses of instinct, that of killing prey 

 and that of rearing young : since the former be- 

 came modified by altered conditions of life which 

 provided the birds with sufficient food, the maternal 

 instinct proved the stronger of the two. 



The average weight of the Common Buzzard 

 is from 1 lb. 15 oz. (male) to 2 lbs. 8 oz. (female). 

 The expanse of wing in a male bird which I 

 measured was 3 ft. 9i in. 



ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. Buteo lagopus (Gmelin). 

 PL 3, fig. 5. Length, $ 22-5 in., $ 26 in. ; wing, 

 $ 17 in., $ 18-5 in. ; tarsus, ^2-8 in., $ 3 in. 



An autumn migrant. On the east coast of Scot- 

 land it sometimes appears in considerable numbers 

 in autumn, when moving in migratory flocks (Gray, 



