174 
A Nursery of Biiccards. 
" angles, and are much gnarled and twisted, though now their deformity 
" is concealed by a veil of freshest green. Cuckoos call vigorously from 
" among them, each cuckoo attended by a pair of indignant titlarks, poj- 
" sibly foster-parents of the very bird who rouses their anger to-day. .i 
" wheatear, perched on a dead twig, joins in the scolding, at sight of 
" human intruders, but no other bird-life is apparent till a swiftly mo\- 
" ing shadow passes over the bare hill-side. It is cast by a buzzard, soaring 
" by with broad wings almost motionless that bend upwards at the tips in 
" a singular way. His back is rich brown, but, as he banks, to use the 
" language of the aerodrome, the May sunlight glitters ui)on the white 
' markings of his breast and under-side, and he floats on the air as l'ghtl> 
' and easily as a fritillary butterfly sails down a sunny glade. 
" Presently he is joined by- his mate, alike in colour, but much 
' larger in size, and the two begin to mew and cry to one another like 
' seagulls. Often they rise to great heights ,and hang suspended, as 
' kestrels might, and then circle round again, never approaching very 
' close, but betraying their anxiety by every movement. 
" The reason for it is soon apparent. In one of the larch-trees there 
' is a large nest, that looks from beneath like that of a carrion crow. The 
' tree is not difficult to climb, though the young companion encounters y 
' jagged spike, with disastrous results to his trousers, and the nest is soon 
■' reached. It is solidly built of sticks and stems of dry bracken, and con 
' tains two young buzzards, thickly clad in down that is pale grey, almost 
' white, with a shade of pink, and between them lies an unhatched egg that 
' is just chipped and about to liberate a third. Small sprays of fresh! v 
plucked larch have been arranged neatly round the nest — buzzards alway 
' indulge in this decorative haisit — and the larder is well stocked. Then 
are the bodies of two voles, a shrew-mouse, a young rabbit, and ;he skir 
of another, but — game preservers please note — no trace of feather or of 
■ any winged i)rey. The baby buzzards are attractive litt'c creaturej vvi*b 
dark eyes and beaks and bright yellow ceres, and, at present, wh'le the; 
assist to keep their unhatched brother wirni, the nest is a niciure of 
' peaceful content. It will not !)e so for long. 
" A dark mystery in the buzzard's domestic economy has recentK 
been elucidated by the camera. Buzzards usually by three egg.;, bu* 
seldom rear more than two young, and frequently only one. Since the 
old birds begin to sit as soon as the first egg is laid, the young are 
hatched at intervals of several days, and, being naturally fierce and vora 
cious, carry out in practice the 3-arn of the Nancy Bell. The weakest is 
eaten first, the next in size follows, till tlie one survivor literally repi- 
sents in himself the whole family. The writer possesses a photograph, 
taken in South Wales, of this fraticidal scene in progress, and it, no 
doubt, provides a third reason why tlie conmion l)uzz;ird so belies I'l': 
name." 
