814 
days; but, on the seventh, I heard 
a feeble cry at a distance, which I 
judged to be that of my buzzard. 1 
repeated the whistle a second time, 
and heard the same cry. I went to 
the place from whence the sound 
came, and, at last, found my peor 
buzzard with his wing broken, who 
had travelled more than half a league 
on foot to regain his asylum, from 
which he was then distant about a 
hundred and twenty paces.. Though 
he was extremely reduced, he gave 
me many caresses. Lt was six weeks 
before he was recruited, and his 
wounds were healed; after which 
he began to tly as betore, and fol- 
low his old habits for about a year ; 
he then disappeared for ever. I am 
convinced he was killed by accident, 
and that he would not have forsaken 
me from choice*.” 
The buzzard is one of the most 
common of the hawk kind that we 
have in this country. It breeds in 
jarge woods, and usually builds in 
an old crow’s nest, which it enlarges, 
aud lines it in the inside with wool 
and other soft materials. It feeds 
and tends its young, which are ge- 
nerally two or three in number, with 
great assiduity. Ray affirms, that 
if the female be killed during the 
time of incubation, the male buzzard 
will take the charge of them, and 
patiently rear the young till they are 
able to provide for themselves, 
On the Culture of the Vine in Crim 
Tartary, from the 2d Volume of 
the Travels of Professor Pallas. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
bie E grape is not only an inde- 
genous produétion abounding 
in the mountainous parts of the Cri- 
niea, sometimes having oblong white 
berries, and sometimes small round 
black fruit; but it has also been 
planted in different vallies and dis- 
tricts from the remotest periods of 
antiquity, Strabot+ mentions the 
culture of the vine near the Bospho- | 
rus, and the care taken to cover it 
with earth during the winter, or to 
bury its roots in. the soil, in order 
to shelter them from the cold ;. as is 
still practised in the vicinity of the 
Alma and Katsha. It is certain that 
the Crimean peninsula is indebted to 
the Greeks for the culture of the 
vine; which was afterwards extend- 
ed by the Genoese in the territories 
occupied by that enterprising peo- 
ple. 
The manner in which this plant is 
propagated on the banks of the Al- 
ma, the Katsha, and the Belbek, has 
already been mentioned. {I am con. 
vinced, and experience has proved, 
that it is useless to shelter vines from 
the cold during severe winters, as is 
practised in the vicinity of the above- 
named rivers, by accumulating earth 
round the crown of their roots. Such 
labour is not without some benefit ; 
for not only the soil is thus more 
frequently stirred, and cleared from 
parasitic plants, but vegetation is 
likewise promoted; so that the: 
leaves and blossoms, as well as the 
grapes, appear at un earlier period ; 
in consequence of which the latter 
may be suffered to become more 
perfectly ripe during autumn. The 
method 
* Letter of M. Fontaine, cure de saint Pierre de Belesme, to the comte de © 
Buffon. 
t Lib. VII. “ In ecodum ( Bosphori) trajectu ferunt, Neoptolemum Mithridatis 
legatum estate navali prelio, hyeme equestri pugna, barbaris superiorem discesissé. 
Sed et vites ajunt in Bosphoro sub hyemem defodi, multa ingesta terra.” 
