THE BUZZARD 21 



With a powerful field-glass we could see 

 them better, and it was a very beautiful 

 exercise they went through. Round and 

 round, in and out, crossing and recrossing, 

 the birds travelled, and half an hour later 

 all slowly came down again, their cries 

 getting louder as they reached the rocks. 

 For several days they went through these 

 exercises ; sometimes we saw as many as 

 twenty birds together, while other parties 

 consisted of only six, but when the sun 

 was warm they went up, climbing the 

 air with outspread wings many times 

 throughout the day. 



Before the second week of March was 

 over the flocks had broken up, and the 

 birds went off in pairs. It was not an 

 uncommon thing to see a pair of birds 

 detach themselves from a flock when they 

 were soaring, and go off into the distance. 

 Perhaps these were old birds, for they 

 pair for life at least that is as far as we 

 can judge. I have known one pair which 



