COMMON BUZZARD. 91 



of a short oval form, two inches three lines in length by 

 one inch and ten lines in breadth, of a soiled white colour, 

 slightly spotted with pale brown. Both parent birds attend 

 upon and feed their young with great assiduity ; and Ray, 

 in his letters, as recorded by Pennant, says, that the male 

 Buzzard will hatch and bring up the offspring if the hen 

 is killed. The young accompany the old ones for some 

 little time after they quit the nest ; and White of Selborne 

 adds, that they follow their dam with a piping and wail- 

 ing noise. In confinement, says Mr. Atkinson, our Buz- 

 zards are observed to hide their food when satisfied, like 

 the Magpie. 



The extreme partiality of the Common Buzzard to the 

 seasonal task of incubation and rearing young birds has 

 been exemplified in various instances. A few years back, 

 a female Buzzard, kept in the garden of the Chequers Inn 

 at Uxbridge, showed an inclination to sit by collecting and 

 bending all the loose sticks she could obtain possession of. 

 Her owner, noticing her actions, supplied her with materials ; 

 she completed her nest, and sat on two hen's eggs, which 

 she hatched, and afterwards reared the young. Since then, 

 she has hatched and brought up a brood of chickens every 

 year. She indicates her desire to sit by scratching holes in 

 the ground, and breaking and tearing everything within her 

 reach. One summer, in order to save her the fatigue of 

 sitting, some young chickens just hatched were put down 

 to her ; but she destroyed the whole. Her family in June, 

 1831, consisted of nine ; the original number was ten, but 

 one had been lost. When flesh was given to her, she was 

 very assiduous in tearing and offering it as food to her 

 nurslings, and appeared uneasy if, after taking small por- 

 tions from her, they turned away to pick up grain. Several 

 other similar instances are recorded. 



Though more rare now than formerly, an enumeration of 



