78 



THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



their neck high, and bristling up their feathers ; but they walk fast, in fact faster 

 than any other birds-of-prey. 



The eggs of the honey-buzzard are not laid before the end of May or the 

 beginning of June. The young birds sit in the nest with head erect like eagles 

 from the very first, remaining quiet, but knowing no fear, and not even defending 

 themselves against man. They do not leave the nest for a considerable time, 

 and even use it as a resting-place after they are fully grown, when they are still 

 fed by the old birds. Unlike other rapacious birds, the family keeps together 



HOXEV-BCZZABD. 



until they migrate and start on their 

 journey. Honey - buzzards migrate in 

 flocks of from thirty to fifty, which in 

 some districts succeed each other so 

 quickly that often in the course of a 

 few hours a thousand birds may pass. 

 Sometimes they migrate in a straight 

 line, flying no higher from the ground 

 than the tree-tops ; but at other times they move along in continuous curves, or 

 they may fly in such a way that those behind can overtake the leaders; and all the 

 while they do not forget to look for food. The migration occurs in August and 

 September, and the birds return in April and .May to their nesting-places, which 

 are spread all over Europe. The honey-buzzard is most abundant in the east of 

 Russia, and is also very numerous in the plains of Norway; but in other countries 

 generally appears in pairs, and in Germany is one of the rarer birds-of-prey. 



Kite. 



The kite (Milvus ictinus) ranges over almost the whole of the 

 Eastern Hemisphere, living by day in fields and meadows, over which 

 it wanders foi miles, and in the evening repairing to the forest for shelter. It 

 nests high up on some laige deciduous tree or pine, mostly close to the trunk, 



