BUZZARD. 35 
The Buzzard builds both in trees, and in clefts, fissures, 
or ledges of mountains and cliffs, and if the latter are chosen, 
in the most secure and difficult situations. One in particular 
I remember in a most admirable recess, out of all possible 
reach except by being lowered down to it by a rope. The 
nest is built of large and small sticks, and is lined, though 
sparingly, with wool, moss, hair, or some other soft substance. 
Not unfrequently, to save the trouble of building a nest of 
its own, it will appropriate to itself, and repair sufficiently 
for its purpose, an old and forsaken one of some other bird, 
such as a Jackdaw, a Crow, or a Raven, and will also 
occasionally return to its own of the preceding year. 
The eggs are two, three, or four in number, generally the 
former, and rather incline to a rotundity of form. They are 
of a dull greenish or bluish white, streaked and blotted, more 
especially at the thicker end, with yellowish or pale brown. 
Sometimes they are perfectly white. Occasionally their markings 
are extremely elegant in the eye of a connoisseur. I may 
here mention that I strongly suspect that many colourings of 
different eggs are adventitious, and not intrinsic. 
Mr. Hewitson, in his very much to be praised ‘Coloured 
Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds,’ writes, ‘Mr. R. R. 
Wingate had the eggs of the Common Buzzard brought to him 
from the same place for several successive years—no doubt the 
produce of the same bird. ‘The first year they were white, or 
nearly so; the second year marked with indistinct yellowish 
brown, and increasing each year in the intensity of their 
colouring, till the spots became of a rich dark brown.’ 
The Buzzard is one of those birds which either happily or 
unhappily, as different naturalists may choose to consider it, 
varies very much in plumage—scarcely any two individuals 
being alike. The feathers also fade and wear much _ before 
moulting—the only permanent markings are the bars on the 
tail. It is the upper part which varies most in depth of 
tint, the general colour being brown, more or less deep or 
dull. In the darker specimens a purple hue is apparent. The 
feathers are darker in the centre, and lighter at the edges; 
the margin being sometimes of a pale brown, or reddish yellow. 
Bewick says that some specimens are entirely white, and others 
are recorded as nearly so. The males appear to be lighter in 
colour than the females. Generally they are, however, dark 
brown, though in some cases white prevails; the feathers being 
spotted in the centre with brown. Weight, from thirty to 
