REVIEWS 



The Buzzard at Home. By x'\rthur Brook. " British Birds " 

 Photographic Series. Demy 8vo, pp. 15 and 12 

 photographic plates. Witherby & Co. 3s. 6d. 



The present little volume forms a worthy continuation of 

 the series, and the pictures are in the first rank of bird photo- 

 graphs, without taking into consideration the difficulties and 

 dangers of obtaining them. Unlike many of the smaller birds 

 opportunities of making an exposure on such a bird as the 

 Buzzard are comparatively few, even when all the initial 

 difficulties have been overcome, and when one thinks of all 

 the innumerable " things " that can happen, any one of 

 which may completely spoil any given exposure, Mr. Brook 

 must be congratulated on the general level of excellence of 

 his pictures and (shall we add ?) his luck ! For the pictures 

 were procured in the course of five days of 8 to 9 hours each 

 in a hide by the Buzzard's nest, and the visits of the parents 

 to the nest average out by his narrative at only 7 per diem. 

 When found on June 5th, 1919, the nest contained two 

 young about a week old. A hide was prepared on that day, 

 and the first working visit was made two days later. The 

 subsequent ones were on the loth and iSth, and July 5th and 

 loth, on which last date the remaining young one (for one 

 had previously fallen out of the nest and been killed) left the 

 nest. Thus the fledging-period would appear to have been 

 about 42 days. During the first two days the male did all 

 the hunting, bringing the food to the hen at her perch about 

 100 yards from the nest and she alone carried it to the nest, 

 for even at that early age the young appear to have actually 

 fed themselves. During the later visits both birds seem 

 to have hunted and brought food to the nest in about equal 

 proportions. The nest was daily redecorated with twigs 

 of mountain ash or tufts of grass, and this seems to be the 

 work of the female alone. The food supplied consisted 

 chiefly of moles and frogs, but mice, shrews, a young rat, 

 a Jackdaw and young Wild Ducks were also brought ; in 

 the latter case a brood must have been found and systemati- 

 cally worked, for the two birds together brought five of them 

 in the course of an hour ! In spite of this, however, it is 

 gratifying to note that Mr. Brook has no hesitation in placing 

 the balance from the economic standpoint on the credit 



