SPOTTED EAGLE — BUZZARDS 77 



their outskirts, or in fields and isolated woods. It nests, as a rule, in pines, oaks, or 

 beeches, and invariably selects the highest trees, although it does not always go to 

 the top of these, choosing by preference a branch at a medium height. At the end 

 of April or in May the nest usually contains three eggs, one of which is generally 

 darker than the other two, the second being much lighter, and the third almost 

 devoid of spots. The buzzard is very quiet and shy while near its nest ; and at 

 the least suspicion of danger will cany its young to some other nest it has in 

 readiness. It feeds them with mice, birds, reptiles, frogs, and other small animals ; 

 its chief food being at all times field-mice, although it will also prey on moles and 

 rats, and, less frequently, on snakes and slow-worms and snails, as well as on beetles 

 and other insects. While nesting, a buzzard will take forest and field birds, 

 domestic fowls, young and old crows, leverets, and, it is said, very young 

 calves ; nor does it disdain a meal of birds' eggs. A buzzard usually perches quietly 

 on some tree or hillock, waiting for its prey; when it sees anything living, it 

 quickly and silently steals up to it, makes one snap, and devours it at once. 

 Sometimes it hovers for a little above its victim, and then swoops down in a curve, 

 with wings close to its body, till it reaches the spot, when it opens its wings and 

 beats the unfortunate creature to death. The buzzard may be known from a 

 distance by its short and somewhat clumsy body, and its gentle, swaying flight. 

 During nesting-time, as well as when migrating, it flies high, and in spirals. 

 Arriving on the Continent in March or April, it leaves in September or October 

 in flocks of from twenty to fifty birds. In Britain the buzzard is resident but 

 rare ; it is occasionally met with in France and the Netherlands, and is one of the 

 best known birds -of -prey in Denmark, German y, Austria, Hungary, central 

 Russia, and the Balkans. The species is more or less nearly confined to Europe, 

 its distributional area extending from the south of Sweden to the Mediterranean, 

 although it extends as far east as Asia Minor. 



The honey-buzzard (Pemis apivoras) is but seldom found among; 

 Honey-Buzzard. 



the pine-forests, as it prefers to dwell among the woodlands and 



orchards, where wasps and bees abound, since its food consists principally of those 



insects. To obtain these the honey-buzzard scratches up the ground like a hen, 



regardless of their stings, being protected by the hardness of its feet and the 



tufts of feathers in front of its eyes. When a wasp or bee is captured, it is held 



crosswise in the beak of the buzzard till with one snap the sting-bearing abdomen 



is nipped off. Besides bees, the honey-buzzard eats beetles, caterpillars, and other 



insects, as well as worms, frogs, lizards, birds, and mice, hamsters, and such other 



small mammals as it may capture in the fields. The young are fed chiefly with 



ants, wasps, bees, and their grubs. The nest is full of the remains of these insects 



which have been chewed up by the old birds to prepare them for their young; and 



it may always be recognised by fragments of the honeycomb lying around. The 



nest is always in a tree, generally a beech, and is often the deserted and repaired 



nursery of a raven or other large bird. Long before the eggs are laid the male 



and his mate amuse themselves by pursuing each other high in the air, rising and 



falling, and describing large circles — the males always flying faster than the females 



Their usual flight is quiet and slow ; they move on the ground like ravens, carrying 



