FALCONID.^. 



539 



THE HONEY-BUZZARD. 



Pernis APivoRUS (Linnceus). 



The Honey-Buzzard is an annual summer-visitor to those wooded 

 districts of Europe which lie between 43° N. lat. and the Arctic 

 circle, and a limited number pass as far west as Great Britain in 

 May and June ; while the fact that some nested with us has 

 been known since the days of Willughby. On the return-passage 

 in autumn, examples, mostly young, have been obtained in England 

 up to the latter part of November, as well as on the east coast of 

 Scotland. To V\'ales this species rarely wanders, but it has bred 

 several times as far west as Herefordshire, and its nests have been 

 found at intervals in various counties, from Hampshire up to 

 Aberdeenshire and East Ross-shire. About i860 it became known 

 that several pairs annually resorted to the New Forest ; ^5 soon 

 became the standard price which collectors of ' British ' specimens 

 were willing to pay for a couple of well-marked eggs ; and nearly 

 ^40 were given for a pair of old birds with their nestlings. By 

 about 1870 most of the birds had been killed ; and it is with difficulty 

 that the few which still visit us are preserved. In the Shetlands the 



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