Northamptonshire I have very good traditional evidence
that it was by no means uncommon in the summer
during the early decades of the present century, and I
have a specimen that was shot with its mate from a
nest that contained four eggs, in the summer of 1843
or 1844. The old gamekeeper who shot these birds
declared that in his early days he had shot “ scores of
Buzzards of two kinds,” besides Kites and Harriers.
My personal acquaintance with the subject of this
article in freedom is somewhat limited, being confined
almost exclusively to Switzerland and Spain. I seldom,
if ever, observed a Honey-Buzzard soaring in the
manner of the Common Buzzard or Kite; it always
seemed to me to be a somewhat sluggish bird, by no
means remarkably shy of man, delighting in “ taking
the sun ” on the topmost boughs of lofty trees, and
evincing a very marked preference for beeches. It is
very frequently to be seen on the ground in open glades
under the forest trees, in search of wasp-grubs and
other food, and runs with great ease and rapidity. The
only note that I have heard from a wild bird of this
species is a shrill monosyllabic squeal rapidly repeated,
and very distinct from the long-drawn shriek of the
Kite or the wail of the Common Buzzard. The nest is
usually placed in a tall beech or oak tree, at a considerable
height from the ground, and is usually composed
of dead sticks, and lined with twigs and root-fibres,
and carpeted with fresh beech-leaves that are constantly
renewed till the eggs are hatched out. The story of
the leafy screen that is recorded in ‘ Yarrell,’ 4th ed.
vol. i. p. 123, on the authority of the late Mr. E. Clough
Newcome, was told to me by that gentleman many
years ago ; his idea was that it was intended either as a
means of concealing the nestlings from the sharp eyes
of the Gos-Hawks that frequent the forest in which he
observed this habit, or as a screen from the sun; be
this as it may, it is not an invariable custom, and, so
far as the latter hypothesis is concerned, the Honey-
Buzzard’s nests are generally well shaded from the sun.
Besides the grubs of wasps and bees that constitute
the favourite food of this bird, worms, caterpillars, frogs,
field-mice, and other “ small deer,” to my knowledge,
come frequently into its bill of fare. It is somewhat
remarkable that having failed in several instances to
keep this species alive through the winter upon the
ordinary food of “ Raptores? I was induced, in the
case of two young birds received from France in
August 1892, to try them with an exclusive diet of
bread and milk, and found that they did perfectly well
upon this very unnatural provend, preferring it even to
wasp-comb full of grubs.
I have this year (1893) received a nestling of this
species (also from France) of the very beautiful variety
with white head and upper breast, figured in Dresser’s
‘ Birds of Europe ’ and Borrer’s ‘ Birds of Sussex.’
Having been informed in 1891 of the capture of
a Honey-Buzzard many years before that date in Salcey
Forest, Northamptonshire, I wrote to the person named
to me as the captor, and received the following reply :—
“ Salcey Forest, March 25, 1891. I beg to say, in
answer to your letter, that the Honey-Buzzard was
pulled out by me in the Crown Woods near Silverstone