oA BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
Common Buzzarp, Buteo vulgaris. The Common 
Buzzard must at one time have been very plentiful 
in this part of the county, as it continues to resist 
the attacks of the gamekeepers, and still remains in 
some numbers. I have had, within the last few 
years, several specimens sent me by the late Mr. 
Esdaile, which had been trapped by his keeper at 
Cothelstone. I have also seen a good many in the 
flesh at Mrs. Turle’s, some of which had been sent 
from the neighbourhood of Monksilver, and some 
from that of Pixton. I have also occasionally seen 
a Buzzard when out hunting on the Quantocks, so it 
seems to be tolerably widely spread over the western 
part of the county. 
I do not much wonder at keepers endeavouring to 
wage a war of extermination against the Buzzard, as 
it is undoubtedly a destructive bird to all sorts of 
game, taking its food, like the Kite, from the ground. 
Montagu says of this bird that it never pursues its 
prey on the wing, but is contented with young hares, 
rabbits and feathered game: in default, however, of 
such food, it will eat carrion, and even worms and 
beetles, and occasionally snakes.* Yarrell takes 
notice of the same peculiarity in the Common Buz- 
zard which I have remarked in the Kestrel, namely, 
* A blind snake and a mole only found in the stomach. 
See note by Mr. EK. H. Rodd, in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1865, 
p. 9417. 
