234 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



safe enough at our hands, for we are not here to slay, 

 this joyous May morning. In a few days at most 

 these young Ravens will be on the rocks above the 

 eyrie, and will keep with their parents some time even 

 after they have grown strong on the wing. 



This picture we leave, and presently the wild 

 mewing cries of a pair of Buzzards attract our 

 attention. Beautifully they sail round one another 

 in spiral curves, the female conspicuous by her larger 

 size. As we near the dingle over which they are 

 circling their cries redouble, waking the echoes of 

 the gorge below, and soon we are gladdened by the 

 sight of their large and rudely constructed home, 

 built on a broad ledge of rock some way up the 

 rueeed cliffside. This we can climb to without the 

 aid of a rope and inspect at leisure. Built behind 

 the friendly shelter of a mountain-ash, it is composed 

 of sticks of varying lengths, the larger ones first, and 

 is lined sparingly with blades and tufts of mountain 

 grass ; and in some abundance down clings to it as 

 well as adjacent objects. It contains three eggs — well 

 marked ones too — richly splashed and blotched with 

 purplish red on a creamy ground. Buzzard's nests 

 vary considerably in their construction. We have 

 seen them lined severally with ivy, moss, larch or 

 Scotch fir branches, but we think their choice is 

 governed by the locality in which the eyrie is 

 situate ; usually, however, mountain grasses are 

 called into requisition. A mole and parts of a 

 rabbit, relics of some red-handed foray not long 

 past, lie on the edge of the nest, but here the 

 Buzzard's food consists mostly of carrion, dead sheep 



