HONEY-BUZZARD. 71 
The Honey-Buzzard is a comparatirely silent bird; but its alarm-note at 
the nest resembles that of the Peregrine Falcon, though not so loud. 
In Pomerania the Honey-Buzzard does not build a nest of its own, but 
selects one of the numerous Buzzards’ or Kites’ nests which abound in the 
forest, relining them with a profusion of fresh green leaves or the ends of 
branches of trees in full leaf. This lining is apparently renewed from time 
to time. A preference appears to be given to beech-leaves; but a nest 
which was taken for me on the 11th of June last was redecked round the 
edge with green pine and birch twigs, with a final lining under the eggs of 
beech-leaves. The nest was in a beech tree about 25 feet from the ground, 
and had been occupied the year preceding by a Buzzard. The bird sat 
very close, and did not leave the nest until the climber threw a stick at it. 
It then suddenly jumped up, took wing, wheeled round once or twice, but 
soon settled on a branch near the nest, and looked down to see the cause 
of the alarm. The nest contained two eggs. The climber took me to see 
the old Buzzard’s nest in a beech-tree about 45 feet from the ground, in 
which probably the same pair of birds had bred the previous year. Two 
seems to be the usual number of eggs; but Sachse says that he once took 
a nest of three ; and Mr. Benzon, the well-known ornithologist in Copen- 
hagen, states that he has known four eggs to be laid. Sachse says that an 
interval occurs of a week between the laying of the first egg and the 
second. Incubation lasts three weeks ; and both sexes take their share of its 
duties. 
The eggs of the Honey-Buzzard are very glossy or waxy in appearance, 
and are very round, the small end being but slightly different from the large 
end. They run through the same variations as the eggs of the Common 
Kestrel or the Peregrine. ‘The ground-colour varies from cream-colour to 
pale brick-red, and the spots from brick-red to deep rich purple blood-red. 
In some examples the ground-colour is entirely obscured; in others 
the blotches are almost confluent at one end of the egg; whilst in others 
they are more evenly distributed over the surface, or show signs of having 
been scratched or rubbed off when the colouring-matter was wet. It is 
usual to find in the same clutch an almost uniformly marked egg, and one 
with the markings dispersed in irregular blotches. In size they vary 
from 2°05 to 1°86 inch in length, and from 17 to 1:55 inch in breadth. 
In general appearance the Honey-Buzzard very much resembles the 
Common Buzzard, but may at once be distinguished by the scales on the 
tarsus, which are finely reticulated all round instead of being in broad 
plates at the front and the back. Another equally important distinction 
may be found in the lores, which are finely feathered down to the cere 
instead of being only covered with bristles. There appear to be two 
forms of the Honey-Buzzard, a dark one and a light one. The adult male 
of both forms has an ash-grey head and the rest of the upper parts uniform 
