BIRD-LIFE UPON THE CLIFFS. 219 



nessed cannot readily be forgotten. It is a bird- 

 flight that impresses itself on one's memory. 

 Several times in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Paignton we have been fortunate enough to see 

 Buzzards engage in these soaring flights. We 

 once fired at a Common Buzzard as it flew over 

 Goodrington Sands. The bird was far out of 

 range and flew away apparently unharmed, but its 

 aerial journey was ample recompense to us for our 

 disappointment in not bringing Buteo to bag. In 

 ever-widening circles it mounted higher and higher 

 into the air, making off in a north-westerly direc- 

 tion, all the time the spirals seeming to decrease in 

 extent as the distance increased, until the bird was 

 lost to view in the sky out towards Marldon. We 

 have heard of a nest of this species during the 

 present season (1898) between the Start and 

 Plymouth. No Common Buzzards breed in the 

 vicinity of Tor Bay, and the most likely time to 

 meet with them in this district is in autumn. We 

 have also repeatedly remarked that it by no means 

 follows that the birds will breed in cliffs which 

 they may have frequented on and off for months. 

 This exhausts our list of cliff-haunting Raptores, 

 although we may take the opportunity of mention- 



