Outlaws. 159 



offered by rural vestries for the heads of kites and 

 crows, the price that the collector cheerfully pays for 

 a good specimen a price which might make the 

 worthy churchwardens turn in their graves, is an even 

 stronger inducement to bring down every strange bird 

 that may appear in the parish. The kite, once com- 

 mon in the very streets of London, is now so rare that 

 we have but little chance of studying its habits at all 

 in this country. 



The buzzard happily still survives among the Welsh 

 mountains and in similar districts. On parts of Dart- 

 moor it is quite a feature in the landscape, when sail- 

 ing slowly in wide circles on its broad and stately 

 wings it calls now and then to its mate with a strange 

 cry which is audible when the bird itself is almost lost 

 in the blue. 



Mice and beetles are probably its chief food fcr 

 most of the year, though its requirements are greater 

 when it has young to provide for. A buzzard seen to 

 alight on a hillside in Wales rose into the air with a 

 long snake writhing in its grasp. 



The noble peregrine, although no longer finding 

 shelter as it once did in the towers of Westminster 

 Abbey, lingers in many places on our coasts. Making 

 its home in the steep face of some sea-beaten cliff, it 

 rears its brood in defiance of the boldest climber ; 

 and, sallying forth from its rocky fastness, it will 

 flutter with terrible effect the pigeons of the farmer's 

 dovecote ; while the partridge and the teal have small 



