1 8 THE KITES, BUZZARDS AND HARRIERS. 



my own which seems suited to that outside view of birds 

 that we are taking. The Vultures and Kites are the jack- 

 als and hyaenas of the bird world. The Buzzards and 

 Harriers are a step higher. They like fresh meat and 

 will have their prey alive, but, not possessing strength 

 or speed to master any very noble quarry, they turn 

 their attention chiefly to reptiles and creeping things. 

 A Buzzard's idea of life is to sit upon a pole, or on 

 the top of a small tree, commanding a good expanse 

 of grass land, and to watch for a field mouse, or a 

 lizzard, or even a fat grasshopper. If you see a 

 biggish, untidy hawk, of a sandy-brown colour more 

 or less dashed with whitish, spending the morning 

 in this way, you may put it down as Butaster teesa, 

 the White-eyed Buzzard, which is the only member 

 of that branch of the family often seen in Bombay. 

 Even it is not common, except in famine years, for 

 Bombay contains very little of that kind of grassy 

 land which suits it. In the Deccan it is everywhere. 



The Harrier is a more frequent visitor to our island, 

 and it is not a bird that one can pass without wanting 

 to know what it is. There is something stylish in 

 the get-up of a Harrier, and also something unique. 

 It is not like any other bird that you meet with on 

 land. On the sea you may find something to compare 

 with it, for widely as the anatomist is obliged to 

 separate them, I can imagine a classification in which 

 the Harriers and the Gulls would form one family. 

 They are wonderfully alike in the life that they lead 

 and alike in the qualities which fit them for it. As 

 the unwearied Gull ranges over the ocean and pounces 

 on the careless fish, so the Harrier ranges from 

 morning till night over hill and plain and drops on 



