42 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



This passage occurs regularly twice a year, in May 

 and September, but it is a curious fact that we never; 

 to my knowledge, saw a Honey-Buzzard in any part 

 of Andalucia or Central Spain, though we found it 

 nesting in the mountain-forests of the province of 

 Santander in May 1876. The food of the Honey- 

 Buzzard appears to consist chiefly, if not exclusively, 

 of the grubs of wasps and bees, which it scrapes out 

 of the ground. It is a perfectly harmless, in fact a 

 useful bird, not by any means naturally shy or wild, 

 and, no doubt, would be a common summer visitor to 

 our woods if, in common with so many other species, 

 it were not shot down immediately it makes its 

 appearance in our country. It is incapable of doing 

 injury to game, and the only reason for killing it is 

 the fact of its being a rare bird, the very reason that 

 ought to operate in the contrary direction. 



The Honey-Buzzard, so far as my own observation 

 of its habits extends, seldom remains long on the 

 wing, but loves to sit and take the sun upon a dead 

 bough of some lofty tree, evincing a very decided 

 preference for the beech, and, when disturbed, merely 

 flies a short distance, to take up a similar position. 

 The food of this species, of course, compels it to be 

 often on the ground, upon which I have seen it run 

 with ease and some speed in a manner quite different 

 to the terrestrial progression of any other European 

 bird of prey. In the few instances in which I have 

 known of the nest, it has been placed in a beech, on 

 a large bough close to the trunk of the tree, at some 

 thirty feet from the ground, built of strong sticks 

 externally, with small beech-twigs internally, and a 

 lining of fresh green beech-leaves. The eggs are 

 generally three, of a roundish oval, and are often 



