Domestic Instincts of Birds. 401 



In 1834 I found a nest of the species called by me Buteo 

 mediiis, not far from Renthendorf. The male paid great at- 

 tention to the female as long as she was sitting, but after she 

 was able to take longer flights from the nest, he did not trou- 

 ble himself much about the young, there being but one, which 

 was reared without difficulty by the dam. The female was 

 shot on the 4th of June, in the afternoon. We waited two 

 hours for the male, but he did not make his appearance until 

 early next morning, when, as I was watching under the tree, 

 he flew screaming through the neighbouring part of the forest 

 and was shot. The young one was taken from the nest ; it 

 had not been fed that morning. The male's affection for it 

 had not induced him to brave the danger. 



In the same year a pair of the Buteo murum, Brehm, bred 

 near Auma. The male not only fed the female while sitting, 

 but the young also when hatched. The female being shot, 

 the male came directly to the nest, and was also killed. 



A third pair of the same genus, the Buteo septentrionalis, 

 Brehm, bred near Weida ; the male was as assiduous as the 

 female in rearing the young, and both parents were taken in 

 a net on the nest. 



The male of the honey-buzzard, (Pernis), presents the on- 

 ly instance known among birds of prey, of not only assisting 

 the female in rearing the young, but also in hatching. They 

 relieve each other regularly. Mr. Madel of Gotha shot a male 

 upon its eyrie, and found that it had been sitting upon the 

 eggs. I lately obtained an uncommonly large specimen dur- 

 ing the breeding season, which was so bare on the abdomen, 

 that at first sight I thought it was a female, presenting the 

 colours of the male ; but on dissection I found it to be a male 

 As far as I know the sub-genus Pernis, which is so remarka- 

 ble in other respects, is the only instance among the whole 

 order of birds of prey in which the males hatch. I need 

 scarcely observe after this, that these males are likewise very 

 eager to supply their young with food, such as the larvae of 

 wasps, caterpillars, chaffers, and other insects, as well as with 

 frogs and mice. I think it also very probable that this kind 

 of food undergoes a previous preparation in the craw of the 

 male, as it does in that of the female, before it is presented to 

 the young. 



The male of both the russet and blackish-brown species of 

 Milvus, Briss. behave to their progeny like other birds of prey; 

 but they show such caution in the exercise of their parental 

 affection, that when they apprehend any danger, they will 

 soar over the eyrie beyond the range of guns, and let the food 

 fall into it from that height. 



