ail 
varies. Three fine adults in the Carlisle Museum agree in having the upper 
parts dark brown, but differ widely as to the colour of the feathers of the 
breast. The first bas the throat and breast buff, varied with bold black blotches. 
The second has the breast dark brown, but the rest of the lower parts are warm 
buff, with dark arrow-shaped markings. A third has the entire under-surface dark 
brown, blotched and barred with buff. White and black varieties are of rare 
occurrence. 
III. Where, when, and in what numbers found. 
This Buzzard is resident in most parts of temperate Europe. It is replaced in the 
extreme North by the Rough-legged Buzzard (Archibuteo lagopus), easily recognised in the 
hand by its feathered legs. The range of the Common Buzzard is regulated by the 
abundance or scarcity of the small mammals which form its chief means of subsistence. We 
found it a common bird in Spain, in France and Germany, principally in forest districts. It 
formerly resided in all the wooded counties of England, and that long before man appeared 
upon the scene. Its bones have heen disinterred from a cave in the Lake district, along with 
those of the wolf and many other wild animals. Centuries of persecution have compelled our 
British Buzzards to desert the forest wilds which in earlier days contained the bulky nests of 
their race, and to rear their broods upon the shelves of dizzy precipices. At the present time 
the Buzzard is tolerably numerous in Scotland and the West of England, but is relatively 
scarce in Ireland. 
IV. Food. 
The idea that every hawk preys upon winged game is a fallacy. The Buzzard does not 
subsist upon birds at any season. Its diet is perfectly well known. It feeds largely on dead 
deer, and on the sheep which fall over the rocks. Inthe absence of carrion, the Buzzard 
feeds principally upon field voles and small rabbits. It also consumes rats, water voles, long- 
tailed field mice, and other small quadrupeds. The Buzzards which we skinned in Spain had 
their stomachs crammed with wall lizards (Lacerta muralis). Beetles and other insects are 
also included in the Buzzard’s menu. 
V. Characteristics. 
The Buzzard is in popular parlance a big, slow-winged, brown hawk, devoid of the 
dashing character which marks the nobler Falcons. It never quarters the ground like a 
Harrier, but either perches sluggishly upon the branch of som2 small tree upon the face of a 
broken ‘cliff, or slowly circles ‘round at a great height in the air. Its presence is nearly 
always announced, even when the bird is flying thr ough the mountain mist, by the reiteration 
of its loud and melancholy ery. 
VI. Protection. 
Wild Birds Act, 1880.—This bird does not appear in the Schedule, but has been 
added in the following Counties :— 
Ena@tanp :—Cumberland; Durham; Lancaster; York (West Riding); Bedford; 
Buckingham ; Lincoln (Kesteven and Lindsey) ; Northampton ; Soke of Peterborough; 
Rutland ; West Suffolk; Devon; Hertford; Kent ; Metropolitan Police District 
(including London and Middlesex) ; Somerset ; East Sussex ; Wiltshire ; and the County 
Boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness ; Huddersfield ; Hastings. 
WaALEs :— Pembroke. 
