166 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



up several or all of their old eyries ; but no 

 earnest work is done before the end of that month 

 or early in April, about which time I have often 

 seen six or more birds over one site playing 

 clumsily with one another, even to rolling over 

 grotesquely in mid-air in sheer exuberance of 

 spirits ; in fact, a somewhat social feeling is 

 evinced throughout the year. The real eyrie, 

 however, even thus early, is indicated by sundry 

 droppings and castings all round it, by the birds 

 frequenting it the most, and by their roosting in 

 its vicinity nightly. The nest is sometimes ready 

 long before the first egg is laid. In this respect 

 the Buzzard does not differ from many of its 

 congeners. 



The Buzzard produces from one to five eggs, 

 usually two or three : a four " is rare, a " five ' 

 I have only heard of once. It is presumably the 

 very old hens which lay but one. They differ a 

 good deal, even in the same clutch : indeed, eggs 

 of one set are seldom of the same type, and when 

 three are laid one is generally spotless, or nearly 

 so, and as often as not smaller than the other 

 brace. An addled egg is not ejected from the 

 eyrie. 



The general ground-colour of all eggs ranges 

 from greyish- and yellowish- w r hite to very pale 

 bluish-white (the internal surface is pale green), 

 and the markings may take the form of blotches, 

 smudges, spots, or speckles, or, rarely, of streaks 



