22 British Birds of Prey, [Sess. 



them." Well do I remember meeting the dear old gentleman 

 on board a steamer en route for London. We did not know 

 each other then, and a Natural History discussion getting up 

 in the saloon, we both took part in it. Discovering his 

 ability to talk on the subject, I learnt from the captain who 

 he was. Not knowing, however, that he had been a farmer, 

 I asked, " Supposing you were a farmer, and had your lambs 

 carried off by eagles, would you not regard them as a nuis- 

 ance ? " Subsequently we became great friends, and I profited 

 much by his acquaintance. 



The Buzzaed. 



Next to the eagle, the buzzard is the largest bird of prey 

 in this country. It lives a good deal on carrion, and as 

 a consequence is easily trapped. It, however, takes grouse, as 

 I have found their legs at the nest. How it catches them I 

 have never been able to understand, but I imagine it must 

 snatch them off their nests or on the ground, as they could 

 not otherwise catch them, — at least, it has never to my know- 

 ledge been seen in pursuit of them on the wing. Judging 

 from the castings of the young birds at the nest, the buzzard 

 preys largely upon rabbits, leverets, mice, moles, beetles, and 

 caterpillars. As mentioned, however, I have seen the remains 

 of grouse at their eyries. 



The buzzard is largely migratory, and numbers are trapped 

 annually on the islands of the Orcadian Archipelago. They 

 sometimes nest in trees, but I have never seen one in a tree. 

 Those I have found were in ledges of a rocky hill face. I 

 have known a nest at Dalnaspidal, in Perthshire, where not a 

 tree is to be seen for miles. Though the buzzard undoubtedly 

 takes game, I am of opinion it is not very destructive. 

 Its presence, however, cannot be tolerated on a grouse moor, 

 as I have seen a drive got up at much expense ruined by 

 a pair of these birds soaring in aerial circles high in the air. 

 The circumstance of their flying as described drives the grouse 

 — especially late in the season — away, as grouse regard the 

 buzzard's presence incompatible with their own security. 



