MOORLAND BIRDS 



69 



low anxious note like the mew of a small kitten. This plain- 

 tive sound is distinctive of the freest landscapes and the 

 purest air in spring ; it seems distilled from the living quick- 

 silver of the spring wind and light. It sounds like the mew 

 of a buzzard heard from a great height in air ; and while we 

 are looking far into the sky, it is often surprising to see the 

 golden plover standing only a few yards away, conspicuous 

 with his black spring breast, and uttering this subtle and 

 almost puny cry. 



Like the keener peregrine falcon and the sinewy raven 



'WW 



'the broad-winged buzzard sails in wide circles' 



the buzzard now only haunts moors where crags and preci- 

 pices provide a refuge from disturbance ; but ravens and 

 buzzards still occasionally nest in trees growing among the 

 rocks. Neither ravens nor buzzards are at all rare in most 

 moorland or mountain tracks ; they are not positively 

 numerous, for each pair requires at least a square mile or two 

 of country to itself, but they are well distributed, and make 

 themselves attractively conspicuous. The broad-winged 

 buzzard sails in wide circles above the hillsides, flinging down 

 its querulous wail ; and the raven often floats and glides on high 



