172 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



half a mile, and I know one wood o hardly 

 larger extent where three pairs breed yearly. In 

 the suitable Welsh valleys, however, there is usually 

 a pair to about every mile, and from that up to 

 double the distance ; I have visited as many as 

 twelve in one day. In one or two cliff-ranges I 

 know, Ravens, Peregrines, and Kestrels breed as 

 well as Buzzards. 



The Buzzard is usually a sad poltroon which 

 any bird may mob with impunity, though once or 

 twice I have seen the tables turned when a Buzzard 

 has harassed a Heron. Ravens and Peregrines 

 fairly revel in this pastime, sometimes, indeed, 

 actually striking the shirking creature, though 

 never apparently too viciously, and probably 

 because the latter, clumsy though it be in most 

 respects, is generally quite capable of avoiding 

 such ignominious treatment. The rest of the crow 

 and small hawk tribe, as well as several of the 

 wading birds, also find extreme pleasure in this 

 guerilla warfare : a pair of Merlins, for instance 

 lithe, swift- winged fellows make a regular 

 business of it : as one mounts a hundred feet or 

 more above its lumbering antagonist, to stoop at 

 it headlong and quick as thought, the other " waits 

 on," ready and eager to take up the attack as its 

 mate shoots up for further fierce frolics. Time 

 after time the game little hawks give battle, and 

 the wretched Buzzard, mewing with fear, gets no 

 peace until it gains sanctuary in some sylvan or 



