134 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XIIL 



" More pity that the eag-le should be mewed, 

 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty." 



Richard III. 



Misapplication of the term vulgaris — Tlie Kite a rare 

 Bird — Its graceful Flight — Occurrence in Sussex 

 — Formerly abundant in the Weald — Honey Buz- 

 zard — Characteristic Timber of the Downs and of 

 the Weald — Charlton Forest — Rencontre and 

 Feast disturbed — The Common Buzzard an un- 

 common Bird — The Puttock — Frequent but Erro- 

 neous Use of the Name of " Buzzard" — Anecdote 

 in Point — The Saddle on the wrong Horse — A 

 Gamekeeper's Ornithology. 



With all due respect for the king of the birds, 

 I cannot but reflect with regret that the quota- 

 tion which I have prefixed to this letter is not 

 as applicable to our own days as to those of 

 Shakspeare: in fact, the specific term vulgaris, 

 or common, however appropriate it may have 

 been formerly, is now in numerous instances mis- 

 applied to many of our British birds; and this 

 remark will hold good in a general as well as 

 in a local sense; in most parts of England as 



