250 Wild Life in Wales 



field. There, their conspicuous bodies might have been 

 supposed to act as a deterrent to other evildoers ; but when 

 I saw them last, they were being totally disregarded by the 

 nimble Sparrow-Hawks, which pricked round the flanks of 

 the field, and the battalions of Crows, and Daws, which 

 operated upon its centre. 



By nature the Buzzard is rather more of a woodland 

 bird than a frequenter of rocks, and, though now generally 

 banished to the mountains, still shows its latent preference 

 for trees, by often choosing a ledge from which some moun- 

 tain ash, or scrubby oak, hangs dependent. Frequently the 

 nest is made at the base of such a tree, being sometimes a 

 slovenly collection of sticks, and heather roots, lined with 

 luzula and bits of wool, at others a mere scrape in the peat, 

 amongst growing rush, or heather, with scarcely an attempt 

 at lining of any kind. The eggs do not commonly exceed 

 two or three in number, and, round Llanuwchllyn, had 

 seldom more than a few narrow patches, or streaks, of 

 brown on their dirty-white ground-colour. They were not 

 laid till towards the end of May, sometimes not until even 

 later. 



Like most birds whose ordinary diet consists largely of 

 carrion, the Buzzard presents rather a dull, and indolent 

 appearance, except when upon the wing. But, when soar- 

 ing aloft, on uplifted and nearly motionless pinions, it lends 

 life to the landscape, so thoroughly in harmony with a 

 mountain scene, as to hold the attention of many people 

 besides the mere naturalist. Rising at first with somewhat 

 heavy beats of the wing, it is soon climbing the air, in a 

 series of ever-widening spirals, with so much apparent ease, 

 as to be suggestive rather of a natural buoyancy than of any 

 applied exertion. Wafted still upward, with each succeed- 

 ing sweep, it often mounts to such an altitude that, almost 

 before we are aware of it, it has become a mere speck against 

 the clouds, and ere the eye has grown tired of watching, has 

 disappeared into space altogether. When soaring thus, a 

 Buzzard closely resembles an Eagle, in miniature, and 

 affords a sight worth a long day's journey to the appreciative. 

 The wings are slightly elevated above the plane of the body, 



