134 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XIII. 



" More pity that the eagle should be mewed, 

 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty," 



RICHARD III. 



Misapplication of the term vulgaris The Kite a rare Bird 

 Its graceful Flight Occurrence in Sussex For- 

 merly abundant in the Weald Honey Buzzard 

 Characteristic Timber of the Downs and of the 

 Weald Charlton Forest Rencontre and Feast 

 disturbed The Common Buzzard an uncommon 

 Bird The Puttock Frequent but Erroneous 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 quotation 

 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 



