14 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Wing -quills browuisli- black. Cliiu and throat 

 yellowish or dusky white. Breast, belly, and thighs 

 greyish or yellowish-white, streaked and spotted with 

 yellowish-brown. Under tail-coverts wdiite. Legs 

 and toes yellow ; claws black. 



The female is darker than the male, and often 

 larger. The colour of plumage in both sexes is 

 subject to great variation. 



Situation and Localit//. — In the forked branches 

 of a tree, sometimes on a horizontal branch at a 

 little distance from the trunk. Also in high, in- 

 accessible maritime cliffs and tall crags in wild 

 secluded districts of England, Wales, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. The bird will often adopt an old crow's 

 nest, and generally returns to the same breeding- 

 place year after year. Our illustration represents 

 a cliff in Mull, in which a Buzzard and Peregrine 

 Falcon were breeding at the time the photograph 

 was taken. 



Materials. — Sticks and twigs in liberal quantities, 

 lined with hay, wool, and leaves, sometimes scraps 

 of down. 



Eggs. — Two to four, generally three. Some- 

 times dingy white and unspotted, at others greenish 

 or bluish-white, spotted, blotched, and streaked with 

 red-brown and pale rust-colour. Very variable in 

 regard to size and coloration. Average about 2.16 

 by 1*72 in. 



Time. — April and May. 



Remarl's. — Resident. Note, a monotonous and 

 plaintive i^e-e-i-o-oo. Local and other names : 

 Buzzard, Puttock. Not a very close sitter, except 

 when incubation is advanced. 



