The Buzzard. jgg 
of mice which a wild Buzzard consumes in a year must be 
enormous. It is most amazing- to think that sucli a beautiful 
and Hselul bird can be subjected to such persecution as it 
is ill somt: districts. The good these birds do must far out- 
weigh the very little, if any, hai'm they may be responsible 
for. A Buzzard can destroy rats as well as mice. I might 
have doubted the fact if I had not myself seen " Buzzy " kill 
a nearly full-grown rat. The animal came into the run where 
" Buzzy " was calmly surveying nature from her block of wood. 
In an instant her calmness disappeared; a quick, alert eagle -look 
shone in her eyes, and in a flash she had darted down and on to 
the rat, seizing it in her claws. Then holding the squealing 
animal she calmly bit into its head and killed it. I had seen 
remnants of rat fur in her aviary and wondered how it had 
got there, until " Buzzy " illustrated the reason under my 
eyes. No doubt many a rat had entered — to leave no more. 
Mice are usually swallowed whole, but rats are skinned first, 
the fur being drawn back like pulling off a glove inside out, 
and the flesh eaten as it becomes exposed. Any kind of raw 
flesh is eaten but " fur " food is the favoured diet. 
Old " Buzzy " has an engaging personality, and many 
are the offerings of rats and mice that she receives from the 
