86 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
not only Hawks, but very many of the smaller birds as well, 
are much less numerous now than in the days of my boyhood; 
and I have heard other nest-lovers make the same remark. 
In rocky countries the Buzzard sometimes builds her nest on 
precipices, or steep banks; but generally, in our own country, 
“some fork in a tree supplies either the site for the intended nest, 
or possibly the nest itself; for, like several other of the Hawks 
already noticed, the Buzzard seems to think there is a deal of 
sound sense in the saying, “ Foolish birds build fine nests for 
wise Hawks to live in them,” and acts accordingly. The eggs 
are from two to four in number, of considerable size, and some 
of them approaching very nearly in general look and colour to 
the Kite’s egg. It just as frequently seems to wait until its prey 
comes to it, a» trouble itself to go far in search of it. It is 
rather a sluggard and a coward to have so much the air of a fine- 
looking bird about it.— Fig. 2, plate IT. 
19. ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD—(Buteo lagopus). 
Not to say a rare bird, but still, by no means a common bird 
in any division of the kingdom. 
20. HONEY BUZZARD—(Perzis apivorus). 
This never was an abundant species in this country, and 
nstances of its nesting with us are very rare. I well remember, 
however, when White’s “Natural History of Selborne” first 
fell into my boyish hands, how his history of the lucky bird’s- 
nesting boy, who climbed the “ tall, slender Birch-tree,” “ on the 
steep and dizzy situation, near the middle of Selborne Hanger,” 
and brought down the only egg in the nest, and that ‘hard set,” 
impressed itself on my attention and memory. The nest was a 
shallow one, composed of sticks, and lined with dead leaves 
of the beech. The number of eggs—an illustration of which is 
given—seldum exceeds two.—Fig. 3, pate Il. 
