BUZZARD 



PLATE VII. 



Buteo vulgaris, ...... LEACH. 



Falco buteo, LINNAEUS. 



* I ""HE Buzzard, now becoming rare in this country, pairs 

 1 in the beginning of March, and may then be seen 

 wheeling about, and often at a great height above the in- 

 tended nesting-place, " in measured time," in slow and 

 graceful flight. 



The nest, which is built of large and small sticks, and is 

 lined, sometimes plentifully, and sometimes sparingly, with 

 wool, moss, heather, fur, hair, or some such soft substance, 

 is placed both on trees in large woods, and also on ledges in 

 the clefts and fissures of cliffs and mountains ; the most 

 secure and difficult situations being selected, such as are 

 afforded by the edge of a deep scar, or the bed of a rocky 

 waterfall. Not unfrequently, to save itself the trouble of 

 making a nest of its own, it will appropriate, and repair suffi- 

 ciently for its purpose, an old and forsaken one of some other 

 bird, such as a Jackdaw, a Crow, or a Raven, and will also 

 frequently return to its own of the preceding year. 



The eggs are generally three in number, but sometimes 

 two, and not unfrequently four. They are rather inclined to 

 a rotundity of form, but vary considerably in size, form, and 



colour generally. They are usually of a dull greenish or bluish 



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