THE COMMON BUZZARD 167 



and scratches. Their colour is very variable. In 

 one wide area of country I know the usual type is 

 light red, rusty, yellowish-red, or brown, with 

 inferior markings if they exist of lilac-grey. 

 One egg in a clutch is often zoned at the large or 

 and particularly at the small end, and a hen 

 accustomed to lay this variety always has one 

 like it every year. In another district dark red 

 and chestnut, sometimes even black and purple, 

 are the prevailing tints of the markings, the 

 underlying ones being lilac-pink or grey. Other 

 specimens are filmed with a delicate coating of lime 

 over pinkish-lilac and rusty streaks on a creamy 

 ground, and are really lovely ; or again, they are 

 minutely flecked with light brown and purplish- 

 red on a white surface. Usually far more ground- 

 colour exists than markings ; in fact, taken as a 

 whole, Welsh Buzzard's eggs, though of fine size, 

 are not richly coloured, but one clutch I have seen 

 was as heavily blotched as a good set of Sparrow- 

 Hawk 's eggs : sometimes the whole clutch is spot- 

 less. The eggs are usually rotund rather than 

 truly oval, while their shell is coarse-grained and 

 thick. Single-brooded, the Buzzard seldom lays 

 again in that year that she is robbed, but should she 

 do so a fresh eyrie is utilized. 



Three or four days, sometimes two only, or, on 

 the other hand, as much as a week, elapse between 

 the dropping of each egg, but the first laid is fre- 

 quently brooded. Incubation, chiefly performed 



