Robbers of the Air 



The common buzzard is one of the most cowardly 

 members of the hawk family, and lives largely upon 

 carrion. In parts of the north and west of England, 

 Wales, and Scotland, where game-preserving is not 

 carried on, it is still fairly common. In the Principality 

 I have had as many as four pairs wheeling over me at 

 once uttering their plaintive mewing or squealing cries, 

 whilst they circled in the air with consummate grace. 



This species builds a rough nest of sticks in a tree or 

 on a ledge in the face of a cliff. Like other birds of 

 prey it has a curious habit of lining its nest with green 

 leaves. 



The fork-tailed kite, common enough a few centuries 

 ago to be one of London's chief scavengers, is now in a 

 precarious position as a British breeding bird, and if 

 something drastic is not done to curb the rapacity of 

 the egg-collector and the ever-ready hand of the man 

 with a gun, its extinction is only a matter of a few 

 decades. It has disappeared from its old haunts in 

 Scotland, and would ere this have done so from its last 

 home in Wales had it not been for the laudable exer- 

 tions of a few genuine bird lovers. 



During the greater part of the year the kite lives 

 upon carrion, but will kill rabbits and other " small 

 deer," to say nothing of reptiles and frogs. I was once 

 extravagant enough to supply a pair of these birds with 

 a whole sheep, which I bought from a farmer and in- 

 duced the man to slaughter near an eyrie occupied by 

 young. Alas ! the birds despised my mutton, and 

 brought their offspring a rabbit and a half-grown 



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