746 



NATURE 



[August 1.2, 1920 



The Romance of Bird Life. 



N/TR. ARTHUR BROOK has made a welcome 

 1 addition to the " British Birds " Photo- 

 graphic Series ; he deals skilfully with the buzzard 

 at home, and gives us twelve fine pictures. ^ 

 During the last three or four years the buzzard 

 has increased markedly in central Wales. It 

 builds upon trees and in cliffs, or even amongst 

 heather and rushes, and an inaccessible nest is 



Fig. I. — The hen buzzard alighting at the ne.-,t. From " The lluzzard at Home 



the exception rather than the rule. The one 

 studied by Mr. Brook was on a cliff, where with 

 some difficulty a hiding-place was built for the 

 observer. There were two young birds about a 

 week old, and when observations began the nest 

 contained several mice, one frog, one mole, half 

 a dozen castings, and a quantity of fresh leaves 



1 "The Buzzard at Home." 

 Photograjjhic Series.) Pp. IS-^l 

 1920.) Price 3J. dd. net. 



By Arthur Broolc. ("British Birds" 

 : plates. (London: Witherby and Co., 



of the mountain ash. The cock did all the hunt- 

 ing, usually bringing his booty to the hen, who 

 sat on a knoll near the nest. She carried the 

 food to the young ones in her beak or talons. 

 Occasionally the cock brought the food to the 

 nest himself. The hen decorated the nest daily 

 with fresh leaves, and she also brought tufts of 

 mountain grass on which the young ones cleaned 

 their beaks. One day the booty in- 

 cluded four young wild ducks, 

 about two days old, and one of 

 these was swallowed whole. If 

 food is scarce the stronger of the 

 two young buzzards will kill its 

 weaker companion. The observer 

 saw the young birds practising 

 flight and playing with the food. 

 He captured one that flew off too 

 soon, and replaced it in the nest, 

 whence in the afternoon of the 

 same day it took wing successfully. 

 The buzzard is said to be a 

 coward, but when the cock bird 

 discovered Mr. Brook leaving the 

 "hide" it showed great courage, 

 making disconcerting swoops at a 

 high velocity, and following him 

 closely for quite two miles. 



With an inexpensive little 

 Kodak, and often in bad weather 

 conditions, Miss Hilda Terras has 

 managed to give us a score of very 

 presentable and interesting pictures 

 of various events in the history of 

 a cuckoo's %^^ in a hedge- 

 sparrow's nest.2 She had this 

 good luck, however, that the 

 cuckoo was obliging enough to put 

 the ^^^ in question into a nest 

 almost on the doorstep of the ob- 

 server's home. Only a true ama- 

 teur- — we use the word very dis- 

 criminatingly- — could have such 

 luck. The hedge-sparrow made 

 for the prospecting cuckoo like a 

 little demon ; nesting birds have a 

 highly developed sense of "terri- 

 tory," or is there more — of home- 

 stead ? The cuckoo persisted ; 

 there was a cessation of hostilities ; 

 at an urgent moment circum- 

 stances were opportune ; the 

 cuckoo flew on to the hedge 

 from the nest, and looked 

 nervous, cunning way. "I 

 swear it was saying to itself 

 anxiously, 'Are they looking? No — thank 

 goodness, I've done them at last.' And then, 

 without any hesitation, it hopped straight into 

 the hedge and disappeared from view. For about 



2 " The Story of a Cuckoo's Egg." Told and pictured by Hilda 

 Terras. 'Pp. 95. (London: The Swarthmore P.ess, Ltd., n.d.) Price 

 6j. net. 



about 2 ft, 

 about in a 

 could almost 



NO. 2650, VOL. 105] 



