146 THE BIRDS OF DEYOX. 



immigration from other countries, small parties of from three to five heing 

 often seen in the neighbourhood of Dartmoor and Exmoor. 



Although in constantly diminishing numbers, this fine bird still main- 

 tains a residence in the county, being still frequently met with on the 

 ■north coast and on the skirts of Exmoor. Mr. James Turner informed us 

 that, in his staghunting days, he used to see numbers of Common Buzzards 

 in the forest, where it was, with the exception of the Kestrel, the com- 

 monest of all the Hawks. One day in September 1876, he saw four 

 perched together in an oak tree in Horner AVood, near Porlock. Common 

 ^Buzzards used to be plentiful in the neighbourhood of Lynton, where we 

 have seen five or six in the air at one time in the Valley of Rocks, and 

 have found a nest in the Castle Hock. Trapping has greatly reduced their 

 numbers since then ; many have found their way to the Earnstaple bird- 

 stuffer, who, in some seasons, must have had to deal with at least a score 

 of specimens. Recently, at Ilfracombe, in the bird-stuffer s shop, we saw 

 several Buzzards mounted as screens, and were told that they were still 

 pretty common and could be procured when wanted. The Braunton 

 Burrows have witnessed the destruction of numerous Buzzards, or " Black 

 Kites," as the warrener and his men used to call them. Coming to the 

 warren after the young rabbits, the birds were easily trapped. We used 

 to see a few Buzzards on the skirts of Dartmoor, and twenty years ago 

 there was a nest aimually in the wooded defile of the Teign, near Fingle 

 Bridge, and another in the romantic glen of the Xorth Teign, in Gidleigh 

 Park, a little to the west of Chagford. 



As a rule, the Buzzard is rarely seen in cultivated parts of the country, 

 being a lover of wild moors, the cliffs, and woodlands. There is no bird 

 which varies more in its plumage, and we have seen them in all stages of 

 from pure albino to almost black. A very beautiful example, almost per- 

 fectly white all over, was one summer sent in from the neighbourhood of 

 Lvnton alive, and very slightly injured, having been caught in a trap by one 

 of its toes. AVe made a good oft'er for it, wishing to have it as a pet — 

 the Common Buzzard is extremely docile in confinement — but, alas I its 

 doom was " to be killed and stuffed," and a few weeks later we saw it 

 mounted, and a sad caricature of its former graceful self. Mr. AV. Brodrick 

 had a large collection of varieties — some ginger, some pied, brown and 

 white, and one a remarkably dark one, almost black. Buzzards are fond 

 of soaring in large circles at a great elevation, and, when migrating in 

 flocks, do so at so great a height that they can only be known by their 

 cries as they pass over. Col. Montagu thought that the soaring of the 

 Buzzard was restricted to the nestinn-season ; at other times it is sluggish 

 on wing, and rarely takes a long flight. 



'' Tlie Common Buzzard," writes Mr. J. Turner, " next to the Kestrel, 

 which is very common, is really the Hawk oftener seen than any other on 

 Exmoor. It seems to be about always in couples, and, go to what part of 

 the moor you like, a pair can always be seen, though the woody sides of the 

 Barle A' alley seem to aflord them the most suitable locality. The Horner 

 coverts have a pair or two. 1 saw two pairs sitting in one oak tree in 



