CHAPTER TEN 



BIRDS OF PREY 



who feed much on carrion, the buzzard has a lofty flight 

 when in search of food. Soaring high up in the air, and 

 wheeling in circles, she appears to examine the surface of 

 the land for miles and miles, in hopes of detecting some 

 dead sheep or other carcass. The buzzard evinces little 

 cunning in avoiding traps, and is easily caught. I have 

 found their nests, containing from three to four large and 

 nearly white eggs, in different situations; sometimes built 

 on rocks, and at other times in the branches of a tree, at 

 no great height from the ground. She sits close, and will 

 allow the near approach of a passer by, before she leaves 

 her eg-as. Though she is one of the most iofnoble of the 

 hawk kind, I have a lingering affection for this bird, incon- 

 sequenceof her being connected in my remembrances with 

 the rocky burns and hanging woods of the most romantic 

 glens in the Highlands, where I have frequently fallen in 

 with her nest and young. In this part of the country the 

 buzzard has become very rare, and is only seen as an oc- 

 casional visitor. 



