48 HONEY BUZZJLKD. 



nest of the pair mentioned by Willughby, contained two 

 young birds; and again another, recorded by Pennant, two 

 eggs. Of the five specimens which I have alluded to as 

 having been found in Northumberland, two were young birds, 

 evidently only just come out of the nest, which was built in 

 a wood near the place. 



According to White of Selborne, the nest of this species 

 is built in trees, in the angle formed by the larger branches, 

 and is flat in shape. It is composed of sticks, larger and 

 smaller, and is lined with leaves or wool, or probably any 

 soft materials that the birds can obtain. It sometimes ap- 

 propriates the old nest of a Kite or other bird as its own. 

 'Fools,' says the proverb, 'build houses for wise men to live 

 in;' and the remark, it would appear, may sometimes apply 

 to birds. 



The eggs are two or three in number, and of a general dark 

 rusty red colour, much blotted with still deeper shades of 

 the same, somewhat like those of the Kestrel in general 

 appearance, but very much darker. Others are but slightly ' 

 dotted over at each end, the middle being belted with a dark 

 red band; some are grey, much blotted with small spots. 

 Others, again, are described by Temminck as yellowish white, 

 marked with large reddish brown patches, and often entirely 

 of that colour, or with numerous spots so close together that 

 the white is scarcely perceptible. 



This bird is of a slender and graceful form, and in many 

 particulars fully justifies its separation by Cuvier from - the 

 preceding genus. Weight, about one pound ten ounces; length, 

 about two feet, the males being rather under, and the females 

 a little over that measurement. The bill, which is black and 

 dusky, is small in comparison with those of the other Buzzards, 

 nor is it so strong as theirs. The space between the bill and 

 the eye is covered with short closely-set feathers, without hairs, 

 as in most others of the Hawk tribe; cere, dusky greenish 

 grey; iris, large and yellow, sometimes inclining to orange in 

 the adult male. The head, which is rather flat, is very small, 

 and looks still more so from the nature of its plumage, and 

 this particularly, after the strikingly wide and large shape of 

 that of the two preceding species. Its colour is a light brownish 

 or bluish ash grey, sometimes white or cream white, the feathers 

 in some cases being tipped with dark brown. The feathers 

 of the neck behind are white for about two thirds of their 

 length, and on the sides greyish brown, tending downwards 



