T he germs P ereis was proposed by Baron Cuvier for
the Honey Buzzard of Europe, to separate and distinguish it
from the true Buzzards, on account of its less powerful beak,
—the lore, or space between the beak and the eye, being
defended by scale-like feathers,—and the manner in which
the legs were plumed, or otherwise covered and protected.
The Honey Buzzard is a rare species in this country, but
more frequently met with in the counties on the east coast
from Suffolk to Northumberland than elsewhere ; and most,
if not all, the specimens that have been taken have occurred
from spring to autumn,—which, coupled with the circumstance
of its food, when ascertained, being almost entirely insectivorous,
has led to the supposition that this bird is only a summer
visitor. M. Vieillot says of this species, which is not
common in France, that it seldom flies except from one tree
to another, or from bush to bush, and then always low, and
that it runs when on the ground with great rapidity, like our
common fowls, — a circumstance which is also noticed by
Willughby. Several specimens taken in Northumberland
have come under the examination of Mr. Selby of Twizel
House ; and some interesting observations in reference to the
habits of the Honey Buzzard are contained in the annual
address of Sir William Jardine, Bart, to the Members of the
Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club in September 1886.
“ The district around Twizel appears to have something
attractive to this species, for within these few years several
specimens have been procured both in the adult and immature
plumage. The bird in question was accidentally observed
to rise from the situation of a wasp’s nest, which it had been
attempting to excavate, or, in fact, to a certain extent had
accomplished ; and the large hole which had been scraped
showed that a much greater power could be employed, and
that the bird possessed organs much better fitted to remove
the obstacles which generally concealed its prey, than a superficial
examination of the feet and legs would warrant us in
ascribing to it. A few hours afterwards, the task was found
to be entirely completed, the comb torn out and cleared from
the immature young ; and after dissection proved that at this
season (autumn), at least, birds or mammalia formed no part
of the food. A steel trap, baited with the comb, secured
the aggressor in the course of the next day, when he had
returned to review the scene of his previous havoc.”
The stomach of a specimen killed in the north of Ireland,
and examined by Mr. Thompson of Belfast, “ contained a
few of the larvae and some fragments of perfect coleopterous
insects; several whitish coloured hairy caterpillars ; the pupae
of a species of butterfly, and also of the six-spot bumet
moth.” The stomach of one examined by White of Sel-
borne contained some limbs of frogs, and many grey snails
without shells.
Examinations have usually proved the food to have been
the larvae of bees and wasps, to obtain which the receptacles
containing them are scratched out and broken up in the
manner described by Sir William Jardine. In one instance,
in the case of a Honey Buzzard kept in confinement, I was
told that it killed and ate rats, as well as birds of considerable
size, with great ease and good appetite. Buffon says,
that in winter, when fat, the Honey Buzzard is good eating.
This species builds or takes to a nest on a high tree in a
wood or forest. White, in his Natural History of Selborne,
says, that “ a pair of Honey Buzzards built them a large
shallow nest, composed of twigs, and lined with dead beechen
leaves, upon a tall slender beech near the middle of Selborne
Hanger, in the summer of 1780. In the middle of the
month of June, a bold boy climbed this tree, though standing
on so steep and dizzy a situation, and brought down an
egg, the only one in the nest, which had been sat on for
some time and contained the embryo of a young bird. The