n6 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



April or May and leaving in September and 

 October still breeds in one or two favoured 

 spots, notably the New Forest. This bird also 

 is no nest-builder, but takes possession of the 

 deserted cradle of some Crow or Magpie, re- 

 lining it with green leaves. This habit of placing 

 green vegetation in the nest is a very curious one, 

 peculiar to a great many Raptorial birds, although 

 the object of such a proceeding is still a mystery 

 to us. The two or three eggs of the Honey 

 Buzzard are creamy white in ground colour, 

 clouded and blotched with rich purplish brown, 

 sometimes so densely as to hide all trace of the 

 shell colour. Their rotundity, peculiar waxy 

 appearance, and abundance of colouring matter, 

 readily distinguish them from the eggs of all other 

 species. The flight of this bird is very Buzzard- 

 like, and very beautiful ; but as the Honey 

 Buzzard obtains so much of its food on the 

 ground it is one of the least seen of the birds of 

 prey. Its food largely consists of the larvae of 

 wasps, which are dug out of their nests by the 

 bird's claws, of mice, frogs, lizards, bees, wasps, 

 and beetles. This bird is distinguished from all 

 other Raptores by its feathered lores. A further 

 distinction is the gray head. 



The woods are also the resort occasionally 

 of many other birds whose proper haunt is else- 

 where, and which we have already met with or 

 are about to do so. Notably among these may 

 be cited the Cuckoo, the Grasshopper Warbler, 

 the Wren, and the Thrushes. In autumn and 

 winter especially are the woods the retreat of 

 many birds that do not frequent them much at 

 any other time. And then, again, if holly-trees 

 abound in the woods they are always an attrac- 



