210 HONEY BUZZARD. 



trap on the 28th of August last, under circum- 

 stances which, as illustrative of the peculiar 

 habits oF the species, I think it may not be 

 altogether uninteresting to detail. On the after- 

 noon of the 27th August, a large bird, apparently 

 of the hawk species, was observed by Mr B. 

 Atherton in the grounds at Tvvizell, to rise from 

 the ground beneath the decumbent branches of a 

 Platanus. Upon going to the spot, he observed 

 a number of wasps (Vespa vulgaris) flying 

 around, and part of a nest and broken comb 

 scratched out of a large hole at the root of the 

 free, in which it had been built. The fact was 

 mentioned on his return to the house, and from 

 the circumstances detailed, I conjectured it might 

 possibly be the work of a Honey Buzzard ; 

 inspection of the place an hour or two after 

 wards strengthened this supposition, as it wa 

 evident the aggressor had again been ther 

 having nearly torn the whole of the comb 

 pieces, and cleared it of the wasps, grubs, an 

 immature young with which it had been filled. 

 At the suggestion of Mrs Selby, two steel- traps 

 were set in the evening, close to the site of the 

 destroyed wasp-hive, and baited with two large 

 pieces of comb taken from another nest, des- 

 troyed a few evenings previously. Upon looking 

 at them early the following morning, they 

 appeared undisturbed, but during the course of 





