WITH THE BIRDS IN WALES 89 



It felt very warm, so either the Raven had laid it but 

 a short time, which was extremely improbable, or else 

 she was " setting " on it. This last idea seemed more 

 probable, because, after finding a Raven incubating 

 two eggs, we saw no reason why this one should not 

 be doing the same on one. Small clutch though it 

 would have been, Pike unfortunately had not his 

 camera with him. We now walked on up the valley, 

 and visited a spinney of fir-trees, where a Buzzard 

 bred last year, but barring a Sparrow-hawk and 

 Magpie saw but little. Then back to lunch, exam- 

 ining a place called the Wolf's Leap en route. This 

 is a spot where the rocks almost meet over the 

 stream, and in olden days, when wolves abounded, 

 must have been chosen as a likely spot for fording 

 the river with dry pads. Lunch over, we were off 

 once more to Cwm I., where we found another 

 Raven's nest ready for eggs. I fear that one of the 

 birds, probably the female, has come to an untimely 

 end, as we found some Raven's feathers on the rocks 

 below the eyrie, which bore shot marks in the shafts. 

 Furthermore we only saw one Raven here, and he 

 kept flying up to the crag where the nest was situate, 

 as it were from some distance. Perhaps he had been 

 in search of a fresh mate. He did not stop about 

 the place croaking, as they will do if there is an 

 incubating hen hard by. Saw a very interesting 

 sight on the way home, and one which is rarely seen 

 I imagine : to wit, one Buzzard making violent love 

 to another. A male Buzzard came gliding over the 

 hillside, flying straight towards a pair which were 

 circling round one another ; whereupon the female 



