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THE COMMON BUZZARD. 

 (Buteo vulgar is.) 



THIS bird is equally at home in the plains and in the 

 highlands. It goes South in the winter, except in mild 

 seasons. Like the Kite it soars to a great height with 

 a fine sweeping movement, crying ' keo-keo." It 

 descends and with an easy stroke hovers near the 

 ground, from which it seizes frogs, lizards, and even 

 poisonous snakes ; but besides marmots, moles, rats, and 

 leverets, its chief diet is mice, of which it requires 20 to 

 30 for one good meal. It usually perches on a hayrick, 

 a post, or a dry tree to watch for its prey, sitting motion- 

 less save for a movement of its head from side to side, 

 until a mouse emerges from its hole. Then it raises its 

 wings, darts downwards, and secures the booty. In 

 years when a superabundance of mice appear, the 

 Buzzards also are numerous, and fare plenteously. At 

 such times, hundreds of tufts of mouse-hair are found 

 beneath the trees where the Buzzards spend the night. 



It would be a good thing if the farmer were to set up 

 perching posts in the places which are infested by mice, 

 so that the Buzzards might settle on them to watch the 

 ground. Posts about the height of a man, and the 

 thickness of an arm, with a cross piece at the top, would 

 perfectly serve the purpose. 



The Buzzard, then, is useful; but it cannot be denied 

 that it sometimes does harm when it gets into a pheasant 

 run, or places where partridges and hares are preserved. 



The bird is still common in Hungary. 



