222 COMMON BUZZARD. 



red gold feathers that cover the head and neck ; by 

 these and the darker and richer brown of its plumage 

 it may be distinguished from the While-tailed Eagle. 



The eggs are generally two in number, sometimes 

 three ; they vary greatly. We may describe them as 

 dirty white in ground colour, blotched with reddish 

 brown and underlying markings of grey. 



The Golden Eagle is easily kept in confinement, but 

 cannot well be tamed. It is reported to live to a 

 great age, even exceeding one hundred years. 



COMMON BUZZARD. 



BUTEO VULGARIS. 



Family FALCONID^E. Genus BUTEO. 



Mouse Buzzard Puttock. 



The Buzzard, once distributed throughout the 

 British Isles, now is chiefly confined to Scotland and 

 Wales. It is a resident bird, and unfortunately has 

 been ruthlessly shot down by gamekeepers, owing to 

 its great similarity to the Eagle, although it is practi- 

 cally harmless to the game, its ordinary food being 

 small animals, reptiles and grasshoppers. It is really 

 a sluggish bird and slow on the wing, quite unable to 

 fly down a Partridge or Grouse, and contents itself 

 with perching on a stone or stump, sometimes for 

 hours, on the lookout for a mole or stray mouse on 

 which to pounce. This latter it is extremely partial 

 to, and is sometimes called in consequence the Mouse 

 Buzzard. It has been calculated that a family of five 

 will consume no less than fifty thousand of these 

 little " farmer's pests " in the course of twelve months ; 

 and yet this useful bird is destroyed as " vermin ". 



