260 PERNIS APIVORA. 



am aware of only three instances of its having been killed. In 

 the Statistical Report of the Parish of Hamilton, the Rev. Mr 

 Patrick states that one was shot at Chatelherault in the autumn 

 of 1831. The light-coloured specimen above described, which 

 formerly belonged to Dr Bushnan, then of Dumfries, but is 

 now in the museum of the University of Edinburgh, was killed 

 at Drumlanrig in that county. The other, also described, and 

 now in my collection, which has in four years gradually in- 

 creased to two thousand specimens, was killed near Stirling. 

 In Northumberland and Durham several individuals, some of 

 M'hich have been described by the Hon. ]Mr Liddel, J. P. Selby, 

 Esq., and Sir William Jardine, Bart., have been obtained of 

 late years. James Wilson, Esq., one of the very few zoologists 

 of Edinburgh, remembers having seen in Penrith three, which, 

 with some others, were shot in Cumberland by Lord Lons- 

 dale's game-keepers. It has several times been killed in Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk, as well as in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and 

 Worcestershire. In the midland and western parts of England 

 it appears to have been very seldom met with. 



Owing to the unfrequency of its appearance, its habits are 

 very little known. It has been seen attacking the nests of 

 wasps, and these animals with their larvje have been found in 

 its stomach. In consequence of its efforts in digging them out 

 of the ground, its feet have been seen covered with soil, as have 

 its bill and the fore part of the head. Willughby and Vieillot 

 say it runs very swiftly, like a domestic fowl, but this state- 

 ment, if we judge from analogy and the structure of the feet, 

 seems to require confirmation. Various observers have found 

 in its crop and stomach remains of moles, mice, birds, frogs, 

 lizards, snails, and caterpillars, and it has been seen skimming 

 over water as if in pursuit of insects. In the crop of a female 

 shot in Selborne Hanger, White says there were found limbs of 

 frogs and many grey snails. Willughby relates that a pair which 

 bred in the deserted nest of a kite, fed their young with larvae 

 of wasps, as well as with lizards and frogs. M. Temminck 

 adds hamsters to its bill of fore, and doubtless it feeds much in 

 the same manner as the Buzzard, which it usually excels in 

 fatness, although that bird is generally found in excellent con- 



