454 



he only saw two, viz. in the neighbourhood of Cairo and in the province of Scherqieh, in February 

 and March. It is stated by Loche to be common in Algeria; but this statement is not confirmed 

 by other ornithologists, and it appears probable that he mistook Buteo desertorum (which species 

 inhabits Algeria) for the present bird. It is stated to inhabit the Canaries and Madeira ; and 

 Dr. Carl Bolle says that he examined a specimen in the collection of Don Manoel Leon, of 

 Ciudad de las Palmas, which was killed in the Canaries, and which he identifies with our 

 European bird. Mr. Godman mentions that Madeiran and Canarian specimens are dark, like 

 our bird ; but he did not succeed in securing specimens. In the Azores, however, the present 

 species does not appear to occur, but only B. desertorum — a fact of which I was unaware until 

 after my article on B. desertorum was published, when, on commencing the present article, I 

 examined Mr. Godman's specimens, and ascertained that they were not, as was supposed, 

 B. vulgaris, but B. desertorum. 



It is somewhat difficult to define the eastern limits of the range of the present species. As 

 above stated, Sabanaeff says that it is not found as far east as Schadrinsk; and although Von 

 Middendorff states that he met with it in Eastern Siberia, I cannot but regard it as extremely 

 doubtful if the bird found by him there really was B. vulgaris. According to Severtzoff it is a 

 very rare winter visitant to the north-eastern part of Turkestan ; but it was not met with in 

 Persia by Mr. Blanford and Major St. John. It has been recorded from India ; but, according 

 to Mr. A. O. Hume (Rough Notes, p. 261), it appears very questionable if it really does occur 

 there ; and he adds that every Indian-killed Buzzard sent to him as B. vulgaris proved on 

 examination to be B. ferox. 



In its habits and general appearance the Buzzard is a heavy lazy bird, with but little of 

 the sprightliness and activity of the true Falcons. It feeds chiefly on field-mice, moles, lizards, 

 snakes, frogs, and insects, and rarely, if ever, strikes down birds unless they are weakly or 

 diseased, though it not unfrequently preys on the young ones, and will pick up young hares and 

 rabbits when it has the chance of so doing. It is usually seen sitting on a low tree or fence, or 

 else on a stone or some such place, where it can watch for its prey ; for, unlike the Harriers, it 

 seldom hunts after prey on the wing, quartering the ground, but prefers to sit and watch for it. 

 In the breeding-season I have frequently seen it circling with apparent ease at a great altitude 

 in the air above the grove where its nest was placed ; but usually it is not seen flying high, and 

 is more frequently disturbed whilst sitting quietly on some secluded perch than seen flying 

 about. When circling round it utters a loud, clear, mewing cry, which may be heard at a 

 great distance and somewhat resembles the mewing of a cat. The Buzzard, unable to catch 

 a strong-winged bird, and feeding chiefly on mice, is not a destructive species ; it is therefore 

 to be regretted that it is so rapidly becoming extinct in Great Britain. Mr. Benzon, writing 

 to me respecting the nature of its food in Denmark, says that " it feeds chiefly on field- and 

 wood-mice, but is not very particular, as it will eat moles, small birds (especially young ones), 

 and even dead fish that have been cast up on the shores of the lakes ; nor does it despise 

 carrion." Mr. Collett says that in the stomach of a female shot near Christiania in April 1872, 

 he found " fragments of a Sorex vulgaris, two Arvicola glareola, and an Arvicola agrestis," and 

 from the stomach of another he took a Coluber natrix ; and Mr. Meves states that he shot a 

 young bird of the year on the 25th September, near Stockholm, and that the contents of its 



