MAIE
Immature Plumage
C O M M O N B U Z Z A R D .
BUTEO VULGARIS.
The only parts of the country whore I have hail a chance of observing thii species ill any luiinhers have
been a few remote glens in the wilder districts of (he Highlands. Here tile Common Buzzard may still
he found as I resident, breeding in any rough precipice or broken range of rocks sufficiently removed from
In nil the northern counties I have met with opportunities of wal ehing a few specimens cither circling
slowly over the moors, or perched on some commanding eminence on the hill-side from which a good view of
the surrounding country could he obtained. During the early pari of winter I have ou several occasions
noticed a bird or two, apparently immature, which had taken up their quarters in tin* big woods near the coast
in East Lothian. At times they might lie seen sailing over the rabbit-warrens among the sandy links, the prey
they wen' able to pick up in such situations being probably their attraction to the district. On the fells of
CuimVrland and among the Yorkshire moorlands I have now and then come across a single sjieeimen; and in
some parts of these counties the rocks they formerly nested in were pointed out. In Norfolk and Buwei
a few stragglers now and then make their appearance. Those I observed in Norfolk wen* near the
sea-coast in the neighliourliood of the Denes, where rabbits were plentiful ; some of these were probably
Kough-legged Buzzards, as I seldom obtained a view sufficiently close to identify tin* ]iarlicul:ir species. In
Susses, although 1 never heard on any reliable authority of this bird lusting in the county, I have known
several to show themselves early in the autumn, frequenting the wojde I districts and limiting over the furzecovered
Held* and downs. Not a few of these, I am well aware, have been, as in Norfolk, Rough-legs; but
I plainly distinguished the Common Buzzard, nnd Lave also seen several that have been shot or trapped
by keepers, as (veil as ulbers whose dilapidated remain*, graced either the end of the dog-keuoel or the
vermin-pole.
I can well remember being present about thirty years ago (when a school-boy) at the death of a Urge
Hawk which was nesting in a high tree in a densely timbered part of East Sussex. Several L'-uueki-epcrs were
summoned to surround the spot so as to prevent all chances of escape. The sitting bird was shot. Its size was
large, its colour brown, and it was called a lluzzard by the keepers : these are t h e only particulars I c m now
call to mind. The eggs, two iu number, however, fell to my share, and remained for some years in a collection
1 had formed with the assistance of the keepers of the district. They were of a dirty white tint, and, to
the best of my recollection, corresponded exactly with eggs of Ibis species that I have since taken in
the Highlands.
Though cautious and wary in most instances when approached with the gun, the Buzzard is by no means
difficult to capture by means of traps, if set with only ordinary skill; the young during their lirst season are
still less suspicious, and are almost certain to blunder into the first trap they meet with. A few years back 1
noticed early in the autumn several immature birds frequenting a rough and stony moor that was well