188 BUTEO VULGARIS. 



greyish-brown, with the edges yellowish or even whitish- 

 brown ; so that individuals in this state seem very different 

 from those of which the plumage is fresh, and in those which 

 are moulting the contrast between the old and new feathers is 

 very conspicuous. 



Habits. — The Buzzard is generally distributed in Britain, 

 in the southern parts inhabiting the wooded tracts, and in the 

 northern preferring the wilder and more hilly districts. Its 

 food, as disclosed by the substances which I have found in 

 its oesophagus and stomach, consists of small quadrupeds, 

 tbe mole, short-tailed and long-tailed field mice, shrews, young 

 birds, the red grouse, the grey partridge, various small birds, 

 lizards especially aquatic species, beetles, larvae, and not un- 

 frequently large earthworms. In one instance I found the 

 stomach filled with the latter; and in another, with leaves of 

 plants and roots, along with beetles and an earthworm. The 

 mole, large as it is, I have sometimes found swallowed entire, 

 and animals of smaller size it seldom tears to pieces. 



When searching for food, the Buzzard flies low over the 

 ground, advancing quietly with an equable and moderately 

 buoyant flight, and occasionally wheeling to either side. It 

 seldom pursues a bird on wing, but prefers pouncing on its 

 prey as it reposes or cowers on the ground, and it is said some- 

 times to devour carrion. When merely proceeding from one 

 place to another, it flies in a direct course, and with great speed, 

 shooting along at times without apparently moving its wings, 

 in the manner of the Eagles ; and although it cannot in this 

 respect be compared with the Sparrow Hawic or the Peregrine 

 Falcon, it by no means deserves the opprobrious epithets of 

 lazy and sluggish and indolent which have been conferred 

 upon it. At times, whether for amusement or gentle exercise, 

 it gradually ascends in the air to a great height, and sails along 

 in a circling manner with widely extended wings. When thus 

 engaged it so much resembles an eagle that the observer, not 

 being able to calculate its distance with certainty, might mis- 

 take it for such, although the large white patch on the lower 

 surface of the wing, which is very conspicuous, suffices to dis- 

 tinguish the bird. 



