108 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER XLIIL 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR, 



A PAIR of honey-buzzards, buteo apivorus*, sive vespivorus Raii, 

 built them a large shallow nest, composed of twigs and lined 

 with dead beechen leaves, upon a tall slender beech near the 

 middle of Selborne-hanger, in the summer of 1780. In the 

 middle of the month of June a bold boy climbed this tree, 

 though standing on so steep and dizzy a situation, and brought 

 down an egg, the only one in the nest, which had been sat on 

 for some time, and contained the embrio of a young bird. 

 The egg was smaller, and not so round as those of the com- 

 mon buzzard ; was dotted at each end with small red spots, 

 and surrounded in the middle with a broad bloody zone. 



The hen-bird was shot, and answered exactly to Mr. Ray's 

 description of that species ; had a black cere, short thick legs, 

 and a long tail. When on the wing this species may be easily 

 distinguished from the common buzzard by it's hawk-like ap- 

 pearance, small head, wings not so blunt, and longer tail. 

 This specimen contained in it's craw some limbs of frogs, and 

 many grey snails without shells. The irides of the eyes of this 

 bird were of a beautiful bright yellow colour. 



About the tenth of July in the same summer a pair of spar- 

 row-hawks bred in an old crow's nest on a low beech in the 

 same hanger; and as their brood, which was numerous began 

 to grow np, became so daring and ravenous, that they were a 

 terror to all the dames in the village that had chickens or 

 ducklings under their care. A boy climbed the tree, and 

 found the young so fledged that they all escaped from him ; 

 but discovered that a good house had been kept : the larder 

 was well-stored with provisions; for he brought down a young 

 blackbird, jay, and house-martin, all clean picked, and some 

 half devoured. The old birds had been observed to make sad 

 * [Pernis apivorus, Cuv. Reg. An. T. B.] 



