72 falconid^;. 



when called. Mice were preferred by them to birds or any other 

 food. When these kites were on wing, rats let ofP from the cage- 

 trap were expertly caught by them. At the shooting- quarters of 

 Aberarder, in Inverness-shire, a locality apparently well suited to 

 the kite, only one bird was seen by the last-named gentleman 

 during the three autumnal months of 1838 and 1839. 



I have met with this most interesting bird amid fine scenery in 

 the west of Scotland ; — in the deer-park at Inverary, and towards 

 the head of the beautiful valley of Glenapp, Ayrshire. In the 

 summer of 1826 I observed it in Switzerland and Italy; and in 

 the celebrated Black Forest of Germany, it was particularly com- 

 mon, admitting there of a close approach without exhibiting any 

 fear. 



THE BUZZABD. 



Buteo vulgaris, Bechst. 

 Falco buteo, Linn. 



Is generally to be found in suitable localities. 



Specimens sent to bird-preservers in Belfast, at all seasons of 

 the year, from the most extensive and best wooded demesnes in 

 Down and Antrim, have come under my notice. In such haunts 

 the buzzard builds in trees. But in the retired and mountainous 

 parts of the country, where not a tree is to be found, it is equally 

 at home, and forms its nest in the cliffs. This bird has a fine 

 appearance when soaring high up towards the blue heaven in a 

 bright summer day. The first exclamation of the ordinary 

 spectator, at the moment of so beholding it, is — " an eagle," — 

 which the buzzard, indeed, strongly resembles in general contour, 

 more especially in the comparatively roundish outline of its ex- 

 panded wings ; but to the eye of the ornithologist, the size at once 

 marks it as a much humbler species, however like the royal bird 

 it may soar. 



When at Rosheen mountain, near Dunfanaghy, — before men- 

 tioned as having contained an eyrie of the golden eagle, — in June, 

 1832, we saw a pair of buzzards, and heard their young call from 

 the nest on a ledge of rock, midway down a precipice. This site, 



