Bird Life jn Wild Wales 



CHAPTER I 



A WEEK IN THE HILLS 



WHAT hills ? the reader may ask. The hills in 

 question are no, never mind where they are, as 

 nowadays the greed of collectors and dealers is so 

 great that any confidence is seldom treated as it 

 should be. Therefore let us be content to say that 

 they are somewhere in the Principality. 



Here, then, let us take a glimpse of one of our 

 rarer birds of prey, a bird well-nigh exterminated by 

 a set of men who style themselves sportsmen, and by 

 their sanguinary tool the gamekeeper, viz., the 

 Common Buzzard. He is so-called to distinguish 

 him from the Rough-Legged and Honey Buzzards, 

 both rarities, especially the latter ; though, as a 

 matter of fact, " common " is a distinct misnomer, as 

 Buteo vulgaris is the very reverse of that, at -all 

 events in our islands. 



Come with us, then, to a charming little Welsh 

 inn, nestling mid grim-looking hills and within a 

 2 i 



