THE HONEY BUZZARD. 139 



when, desisting from its work, it ran rapidly for 

 ten or fifteen yards, and then rising with apparent 

 reluctance, sailed away on noiseless wing down 

 one of the open alleys of the forest, keeping near 

 the ground like the hen-harrier, until I lost sight 

 of it behind a little hill at the farther extremity of 

 a long vista. 



I should imagine this to have been an immature 

 bird, the state of the plumage, as far as I could 

 observe, corresponding with Mr. Jenyns's descrip- 

 tion of the young of the year, the head and upper 

 parts being variegated with white spots ; but in- 

 deed such extraordinary variety of plumage does 

 the honey buzzard present, that I have never yet 

 seen two specimens which exactly resembled each 

 other, having no rival in this respect among British 

 birds, except that feathered harlequin of the fens, 

 the ruff. 



The generic characters of the honey buzzard, 

 which appear to have been first appreciated by 

 Cuvier, are sufficiently obvious in a recently killed 

 or in a preserved specimen ; but even at the dis- 

 tance at which I observed this bird when on the 

 ground although too far to perceive the feathered 

 lore, the reticulated tarsi, or the partially curved 

 claws there was something about its manner 

 and bearing which was remarkable. Instead of 

 the hop of the sparrowhawk or the leap of the 



