A Call of the Wild 251 



with the quills deflected upwards, and so fully expanded 

 that their notched tips stand out distinctly from one another ; 

 while the nearly white under coverts, and the barring on 

 both wings and tail, are sometimes plainly visible, even at 

 a considerable distance. It is the tail which, rudder-like, 

 directs the course of the bird, when the wings appear to be 

 most inactive, and careful observation will detect its 

 "feathering" to right or left according as the course is 

 shaped. 



The plaining " mew " of the Buzzard, though it does not 

 sound very loud, even when the bird is at close quarters, is 

 a far-reaching cry, that falls so distinctly on the ear, on a 

 calm day, as often to make it difficult to realise that its 

 author is the speck, silhouetted against the clouds, so far 

 overhead. It is a note that harmonises delightfully with 

 the rugged scenery amidst which it is so often heard, and 

 voices " the call of the wild," so dear to the lover of nature, 

 better than most sounds. The note is not badly repre- 

 sented by the syllables "plui, plui," slowly repeated, and 

 was wont to be regarded, by our forbears, as a cry to Jupiter 

 Pluvius, for rain to assuage the bird's thirst. The Buzzard 

 was supposed to be one of several birds upon which rested 

 an ancient curse, prohibiting them from drinking anything 

 except rain water ; and when more than usually parched, its 

 voice became shriller, and it sailed nearer to the clouds, that 

 its prayer might be the better heard. Hence a Buzzard 

 flying high, and at the same time calling, came to be looked 

 upon as a sign of rain. The superstition still survives, in 

 the south-west corner of England, in the following doggerel 



" When the wind is north, or east, you sees 

 The Vanners keep to their nestesies ; 

 But when it's blowing west by south, 

 They sail aloft with open mouth." 



" Vanner," or " wind fanner," being a name applied alike 

 to Kestrel, or Buzzard, from their similar habit of hovering, 

 and the reference to the south-west, or rain-bearing wind, 

 obviously pointing the moral. In the Lake district, the 

 Buzzard is sometimes called the " Helm Hawk," from a 



