THE COMMON BUZZARD 173 



rocky retreat. Besides these, smaller birds still, 

 such as Ring -Ouzels, especially when a Buzzard 

 persists in settling close to their nest, give the great 

 hawk many a bad moment, sweeping past its head 

 so closely that the two birds seem momentarily 

 to touch. 



The Buzzard's usual cry is a melancholy and 

 rather nasal half - whistle, half mew, thus : 

 s-e-i-o-u, which is generally oft repeated, albeit 

 with an appreciable interval between each utter- 

 ance : it may be heard from a bird flying or at 

 rest. Different individuals call in different keys, 

 and sometimes one is very husky, then giving vent 

 to a weird, screeching croak. In wet and generally 

 dismal or turbulent weather, a pair will often sit 

 on the rocks, answering one another with an 

 uncanny repetition of the syllable mah, while nest- 

 lings possess a softly-iterated and very human-like 

 whistle of whee-ou whee-ou-whee-ou-whee-ou- 

 wheti. 



A certain amount of internal migration 

 chiefly local is noticeable in autumn and winter 

 (this movement must not be confused with the 

 immigration of Buzzards from the Continent, 

 which pertains to the east coast in autumn), and 

 I feel sure that it is mainly birds of the year, driven 

 from the scenes of their birth by their parents, 

 which seek perforce these pastures new, since not 

 only are almost all the Buzzards one hears of as 

 being destroyed down country in the north and 



