THE BUZZARDS OF THE DOONE COUNTRY 31 



On the way, one of us remarked in an off-hand manner that it looked 

 exactly like the pictures that one has seen of a Kite's nest, and built high up 

 in the fork of one of a clump of tall ash trees on a steep hill-side, surrounded 

 by the wild beauty of the Doone country, the eyrie, now only about 200 yards 

 away, really looked extraordinarily impressive. 



And a moment later we saw a huge Buzzard almost golden-brown on 

 the upper parts it seemed rise from the nest, and spreading her great wings, 

 swing out and away over the valley. 



The excitement of the enthusiast at such a moment cannot be described 

 possibly it borders on the ridiculous ! In any case the tree was reached in 

 an incredibly short time, and the discovery soon made that it would be no 

 easy matter to climb it. 



From the top of the hill we found that a good view of the nest could be 

 obtained, and with the help of the glasses we could see that there were some 

 young Buzzards on it at least, an indistinct white mass suggested young 

 Buzzards in down. 



This discovery led to renewed efforts to negotiate the tree, and at length, 

 with the help of a long larch pole, the thing was accomplished though not 

 without a good deal of exertion, for to ' swarm ' up thirty-five feet of ash stem to 

 the lowest branch is not an easy business, particularly when the trunk is too 

 large to allow the climber to clinch his fingers. 



All this time the female Buzzard with motionless wings, on which we 

 could distinctly see the alternate black and white bars, described great circles 

 above the tree, at the same time uttering a loud intermittent mewing cry, 

 which indeed she did whenever the nesting-tree was approached too closely. 



There is a certain uncanny charm about this mewing of the Buzzards 

 a strange wildness that is, without doubt, enhanced by the grandeur of the 

 surroundings. 



The nest was found to contain three young ones (and this is the usual 

 number), two females and one male, which, judging by the fact that their feathers 

 were just coming through the down, must have been about two weeks old. 



One can usually determine the sex of young hawks in the nest by the 

 varying sizes at the same age, the females being larger than the males, though 

 the difference in the case of Buzzards is not so marked as with most of the 

 other hawks. 



On the sides of the nest were two large piles of young rabbits a total of 

 thirty-five far more of course than the young Buzzards could ever hope to 

 consume. Those on the top of the pile were quite fresh, evidently having been 

 secured the same day : though the less recent additions at the bottom of the 

 pile had been in position so long that they were literally a mass of maggots. 

 All of these young rabbits had been roughly plucked and practically all had 

 had their intestines removed. 



