THE COMMON BUZZARD 159 



the remains of Crows, Pigeons, and other species, 

 inclusive of a Nightjar, as well as tiny lambs a 

 couple of days old at most, conveyed there, of 

 course, after death, for the Buzzard is no slayer 

 of lambs. With regard to the Pheasant, Crow, 

 and Pigeon, the Buzzard must surely in the first 

 instance have lighted on them dead, or, at any rate, 

 wounded? for though no doubt the bird could if 

 so disposed tackle even this "big game," that 

 would be quite out of keeping with its usual 

 habit of picking up its prey from off the ground ; 

 moreover, a cock Pheasant, however attacked, 

 could, and certainly would, put up a noble defence ; 

 while, as for the Crow, that species positively 

 revels in mobbing the Buzzard, and routs him 

 decisively, too, on any and every possible occasion. 

 Rarely but very rarely a Buzzard, even out of 

 the breeding-season, will devastate the poultry- 

 yard, but, on the whole, this fine hawk is quite 

 harmless to game and poultry for all that, when 

 one crosses over a moor, the Grouse lie like stones 

 in the heather. Yet with a rabbit and grouse in 

 front of it, the former is invariably selected. Tame 

 Buzzards will eat almost anything cats, squirrels, 

 hedgehogs, and practically any variety of bird, 

 though, of other fare, blind worms my pet 

 Buzzards, at any rate, utterly rejected. 



The Buzzard usually procures its prey by 

 quartering the ground from a fair, and sometimes 

 from quite a low, elevation, with slow, noiseless, 



