Honey Buzzard. 89 



and wasps, scratches away the bank in which they are placed, and 

 tears out the comb. The larvae, or immature young, are the objects 

 of its diligent search, and these it devours with great greediness, 

 picking them out and demolishing them without any regard to the 

 -anger or the stings of their owners. The scientific name it bears 

 declares this habit clearly enough, and it would be well were the 

 English specific name exchanged for the ' Gentle ' Falcon (as has 

 been suggested), the word 'gentle' signifying the nymphse of 

 wasps, bees, etc., as the readers of honest old Isaac Walton well 

 know. The present name of ' Honey ' Buzzard is apt to mislead. 

 In Sweden it is more correctly called Bi Vrdk or ' Bee Vrak.' 

 Montagu observed that it used to frequent a lake daily for the 

 purpose of preying on the large dragon flies (Libellulai), which it 

 seized with its talons, and took them from thence with its beak. 

 But though so partial to young bees and wasps, these do not 

 form the entire food of this large bird ; indeed, it would be diffi- 

 cult to satisfy a voracious appetite with such delicacies. Rats, 

 mice, frogs, and small birds, all go to fill its capacious craw. 

 However, it makes its appearance in this country only in the 

 summer, when its favourite food is to be found, arriving from 

 warmer countries and migrating in large flocks, of which Lord 

 Lilford was once an eye-witness, when he saw several hundreds 

 of this species pressing the Straits of Gibraltar en route from 

 Spain to South Africa, on the return autumnal flight in Sep- 

 tember, 1856.* 



In order to defend its head from the stings of the insects it 

 robs, all the vulnerable parts between the beak and eyes are 

 clothed with close-set, scale-like feathers, and these seem to act 

 as a helmet of mail, proof against the weapons of its innumer- 

 able assailants, whose vengeance its wholesale attacks are sure 

 to excite. In addition to this generic character, wherein it 

 differs from all others of the same family, the tarsi are reticu- 

 lated and the claws only partially curved. These are plain marks 

 of distinction, but in plumage it presents a most extraordinary 

 variety, scarcely two specimens being found to resemble each 

 Ibis for 1865, p. 177. 



