HONEY-BUZZARD.
PERNIS APIVORUS (Linn.).
Falco apivorus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 130 (1766); Naum. i. p. 367,
xiii. p. 28.
Pernis apivora, Macg. iii. p. 254.
Pernis apivorus, Hewitson, i. p. 40; Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 121;
Dresser, vi. p. 3.
Ruse bondree, French; Wespen-Bussard, German; Aguila
de Moros, Abejero, Abispera, Spanish.
This bird, whose common English name should be
summarily changed to “ Wasp-Buzzard,” is locally well
known as a summer visitor to the forest-districts of
most parts of Europe. My friend Mr. H. E. Dresser,
in his grand work ‘ The Birds of Europe,’ records it as
breeding in Finland; it is exceedingly common on
passage in Sicily, it occurs in Palestine, and we found
it nesting on the frontiers of Santander and Asturias.
In this country there are many records of the finding
of occupied nests of the Honey-Buzzard; I am glad
to be able, on good authority, to add to those
recorded in the 4th ed. of ‘ Yarrell,’ two instances
in the county of Bucks; and I have every reason to
believe that if unmolested these birds would breed in
some abundance throughout our British woodlands. In