CHAP. X.] BUZZARDS. 89 
fied her hunger, this bird will sit for hours perfectly motionless 
on some withered branch, or on a projecting corner of rock, 
whence she commands a good view of the surrounding country, 
and can easily detect the approach of danger. A cowardly bird, 
except when excited by hunger, she submits patiently to the 
attacks of the smaller birds, and flies from the magpie or jackdaw. 
Like the kite, the raven, the eagle, and all birds who feed much 
on carrion, the buzzard has a lofty flight when in search of food. 
Soaring high up in the air, and wheeling in circles, she appears 
to examine the surface of the land for miles and miles, in hopes 
of detecting some dead sheep or other carcass. The buzzard 
evinces little cunning in avoiding traps, and is easily caught. I 
have found their nests, containing from three to four large and 
nearly white eggs, in different situations; sometimes built on 
rocks, and at other times in the branches of a tree, at no great 
height from the ground. She sits close, and will allow the near 
approach of a passer by, before she leaves her eggs. Though she 
is one of the most ignoble of the hawk kind, I have a lingering 
affection for this bird, in consequence of her being connected in 
my remembrances with the rocky burns and hanging woods of the 
most romantic glens in the Highlands, where I have frequently 
fallen in with her nest and young. In this part of the country the 
buzzard has become very rare, and is only seen as an occasional 
visitor. 
