102 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE POLEGATE WOODS. 



THE sylvan country, which is almost wanting at Eastbourne proper, 

 can be found by making a short railway journey to Polegate. The woods 

 round it are delightful ; and as the birdsnester, who has tired himself out by 

 hunting, can regale himself afterwards, in the village, on that very appropriate 

 finale to a day's naturalizing, an egg tea, the locality has, since the 

 desecration of the Decoy, been much frequented by the more energetic 

 members of the Eastbourne schools. 



A charming lane, though too often ankle-deep in mud, brings you to one 

 of the best known woods, in the midst of a district which, as things go 

 nowadays, is quite a stronghold of raptorial birds. Most of the Kestrels, 

 it is true, frequent the neighbouring cliffs in the spring time, but some 

 few breed in the woodlands, and the Sparrowhawk is here as common a 

 bird as in any locality that I am acquainted with throughout the whole 

 of the British Isles. 



In the autumn of 1906, however, a far nobler member of the family was 

 captured in one of these woods. A rustic wandering through them was 

 astonished to see a large Hawk tearing up a wasps' nest in a bank. Not 

 realizing that it belonged to a harmless species, he rushed home, secured two 

 traps, and, returning, set one on each side of the nest. In a short time the 

 bird, a male Honey-Buzzard, was caught ; but the female, which was also 

 seen, passed on unmolested. 



This bird, after changing hands once, came into my possession, and is 

 now in the Eastbourne Museum, having been admirably mounted by Mr. 

 Bates. Concerning it a writer in ' The Field ' of February 17th, 1906, Mr. 

 H. A. Bryden, remarked : 



"Although called Honey-Buzzard, the bird is actually not a honey eater, 

 but, like the Honey-Guide of South Africa, visits the nests of bees and wasps, 

 and even of the formidable hornet, for the grubs found in the comb. The 

 Honey-Guide, by the way, calls in the aid of man, while the Honey-Buzzard 

 storms the nests and caters boldly for himself. It also devours the wasps 



