COMMON BUZZARD. 121 



In some parts of South Wales the Buzzard breeds on the cliffs. Dr. 

 Propert has kindly furnished me with particulars of eight nests, all built 

 on the rocks overlooking the sea on the coast of St. Bride's Bay, in Pem- 

 brokeshire. They were taken in 1876 and the two following years ; the 

 earliest date was the 19th of April, and the latest the 9th of May. Two 

 were on the cliffs of the mainland, near St. David's Head, and the other 

 six on Ramsey Island. The rocks were almost perpendicular, and in four 

 cases they were overhanging. The cliffs rise from three to four hundred 

 feet above the sea. In every case the nests were almost inaccessible, and 

 could only be reached by letting a boy down with a rope; and where the 

 nests were under an overhanging rock, the eggs could only be secured with 

 a net fastened to the end of a stick. One nest, a large one, was a slight 

 hollow, with sticks carefully disposed around it. Another nest was under 

 some thorn-bushes, and a third in a very damp place where water was 

 trickling down. One nest contained four eggs, and six nests contained 

 three eggs each. The eggs varied somewhat in size ; and in one of the 

 nests the third egg was abnormally small. Some clutches were much more 

 handsomely coloured than others. In two cases the eggs were perfectly 

 fresh ; but in one taken on the 1st of May they were almost hatched. In 

 the ' Ootheca Wolleyana ' is also an interesting account of the nesting of 

 the Buzzard on rocks in Sutherlandshire. 



Three seems to be the usual number of eggs, sometimes only two, and 

 not unfrequently four. They vary very much in size and colour, are rough 

 in texture, and possess little or no gloss. Common Buzzards' eggs vary 

 from milky blue to pale reddish white in ground-colour, blotched, streaked, 

 spotted, or clouded with rich brown surface-spots and pale lilac shell-mark- 

 ings. Some specimens are most richly and handsomely marked, others 

 more sparingly, whilst many are almost devoid of markings. Many speci- 

 mens very closely resemble certain varieties of the Common Kite's, others 

 the pale and spotless eggs of the Goshawk. A rather rare variety is 

 finely streaked and scratched over the smaller half of the egg with pale 

 brown, with one or two larger spots. In some the colour is confluent on 

 the larger end, whilst in others the rich brown colouring-matter is covered 

 with a thin coating of lime, giving the egg a beautiful delicate lilac-pink 

 appearance. In form the Buzzard's eggs vary considerably, some speci- 

 mens being almost round, others strictly oval, some elongated, and more 

 rarely elliptical. In size they vary from 2|- to 2 inches in length, and 

 from 1'9 to T65 inch in breadth. 



The peculiar motion of the Buzzard's flight has been noticed by .the 

 earliest writers on British birds, who speak of its rising in the air to a 

 great elevation in a spiral course. So much did this motion on the 

 Buzzard's part impress itself upon Forster, that he gave the bird the name 

 of spiralis. In passing from place to place the Buzzard flies very slowly, 



