238 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



evening dress, only with the colours reversed. The 

 breeding station referred to was covered with thick 

 tussocky grass, with here and there bog holes con- 

 taining abundance of water. In some cases the 

 young were hatched, the shells being left in the 

 nests. 



Of the larger birds of prey the buzzard is the most 

 common among the hills. Often upon the mountains 

 it sits upon some commanding crag and remains 

 motionless for hours. Probably at this time it is 

 digesting the prey which it has secured during the 

 hours of hunting. This must sometimes amount to a 

 vast bulk, for it is said that sixteen mice have been 

 taken from the crop of a single bird. It feeds upon 

 moles, beetles and field-mice, but rarely destroys 

 birds, and then only slow-flying ones. Grouse 

 which are weakly or ailing it picks out, and in this 

 way does much good. The shepherds destroy many 

 buzzards in winter, taking them in fox-traps set 

 near a dead herdwick and buried beneath the 

 heather. When the buzzards are foraging for food 

 they fly low over the ground and systematically 

 work the valleys of their neighbourhood. They are 

 such omnivorous feeders that they always seem to 

 have abundance of food. At the same time I would 

 remark that among the hills they feed much more 

 frequently upon carrion than birds of the same 

 species which live in the valleys. No less than 



