140 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. XIII. 



^ 



YOUNG BUZZARD TAKES A SHOWER BATH. 

 Recently I made a curious observation upon a young 

 Buzzard {Buteo b. buteo), which has been in my possession 

 since it was completely enclosed in down. The young bird 

 {I do not yet know its sex) was hatched about May 23rd, 

 1919, and is now (August 4th) just shedding the last flakes 



of down. It takes a bath on alternate days and has done so 

 for a week or more. In the evening of August 4th it rained 

 heavily and I expected to see the bird retire to its shelter ; 

 it did not do so, but flew to a perch in the open and stood 

 lifting its wings to the horizontal and sometimes higher ; 

 then it would flap them and return them again to the hori- 

 zontal position and fully outstretched as the rain beat upon 



