UZZARD 



Buteo vulgar is 



N olden days the Buzzard was pretty generally distributed 

 throughout the British Islands, but owing to the ruthless 

 persecution it has met with at the hands of keepers, and 

 game-preservers in general, it is now confined to one 

 or two of the larger forests of Scotland, and to the sea- 

 coasts where the rocks are precipitous. It also breeds 

 in one or two localities in Wales. 



The haunts of the Buzzard are among the deepest solitudes of the deer- 

 forests, where the silence is only broken by the cry of the Blackcock or 

 the hoarse croak of the Raven. Here the Buzzard may be seen flying slowly 

 along, or ascending in spiral flight with outstretched wings like some miniature 

 Eagle. At times it may be seen perched on a rock, from which it sails 

 slowly forward to swoop down on some unfortunate mouse or vole. Small 

 mammals form the principal food of the Buzzard, but it also eats grasshoppers, 

 beetles, and other insects, and occasionally takes reptiles and small birds if 

 it can catch them unawares. 



No bird is easier to trap than the Buzzard, and because of his unfortunate 

 resemblance to an Eagle he is persecuted by almost every keeper in the 

 kingdom. One keeper in the west of Scotland showed me with pride his 

 list of vermin for the year. It contained no fewer than twenty-eight Buzzards. 

 When I remonstrated with him for destroying so harmless a bird, he answered 

 me that he had seen a Buzzard strike down an old cock Grouse before his 

 eyes! 



The Buzzard returns to the same eyrie year after year ; hence the nest is 



sometimes a very bulky structure. If the nest is placed in a tree, it is usually 



near the top, and is built, as a rule, on some flat branch. It is a large flat 



structure, from one and a half to two feet in diameter, the hollow in the middle, 



VOL. iv. G 25 



