74 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



One nest I have known for sixteen years, and with 

 one or two exceptions it has been used year after 

 year. I have often peered into the nest with my 

 glasses, and coveted the richly-marked eggs.'' 

 Mr. Mitchell has also observed the Buzzard 

 breeding on the North Coast. Gatcombe records it 

 as breeding annually in South Devon ; e.g. in woods 

 upon the banks of the Tamar ; similarly, the late 

 Mr. Gurney noted that a pair nested in a wood at 

 Lustleigh annually, There can be no doubt that, 

 formerly, the Buzzard was quite a common bird in 

 most of our well timbered districts. When visiting 

 Rhame Head on March 20th, 1872, Mr. Gatcombe 

 observed " sitting on a rock a fine Common Buzzard 

 which seemed to have been perfectly gorged ; " 

 Gatcombe found that the wild Buzzard took a 

 variety of food, including slowworms [Anguis 

 fragilis) ; tame birds were partial to earthworms, 

 " which they would regularly hunt for on the grass 

 plots after rain " (Zool. 1880. p. 250). This species 

 varies greatly in colouration. The Rev. Murray A. 

 Mathew records a female trapped near Lyumouth, 

 as " nearly a pure white all over, the back of the 

 head, wings, scapulars and upper tail coverts being 

 narrowly barred with wood brown '' (Zool. 1859. p. 

 6602). 



ROUGH-LEGGED '^VZZP^^'D.—Archihiteo hffopus (Gmel). 



A RARE winter visitant, immature birds occasionally 

 wander West into Devon, as in the winter 1876-77, 



