Buzzard. RAPTORES. PERNIS. 63 



CuviER to separate the Honey Buzzard from the preceding^ 

 genus, and to form of it and a few other foreign species, pos- 

 sessing the same character, his genus Pernis. 



The instances of this bird being killed in England are but Rare visi- 

 few. Latham says, that during such a number of years as *^"'* 

 he has been a collector, he has received but one fresh speci- 

 men. I have never met with it in a living state, nor been 

 able to obtain it newly killed ; and I am indebted for the 

 figure in the present work to the poHte attention of N. A. 

 Vigors, Esq. who kindly lent me, for that purpose, the very 

 fine specimen he possesses *. 



Montagu describes one, taken at High Clere in Berk- 

 shire (and now in the British Museum), that had the breast 

 and belly of a light brown, barred with reddish-brown, which, 

 according to that accurate ornithologist Tkmminck, is cha- 

 racteristic of the female, or a young bird. 



The young, during the first year, or previous to the first 

 general moult, have the cere and iris brown, and the head 

 spotted with white and brown. 



The Honey Buzzard preys upon moles, mice, and small Food, 

 birds, and on lizards and insects, particularly wasps, bees, 

 and their larvae, which should appear to be their favourite 

 food. 



WiLLouGHBY describes a nest of this bird, in which he 

 found the limbs of wasps, and fragments of the nymphae in 

 the stomachs of the young ones, whose craws contained also 

 several lizards and frogs. 



Its flight is easy and graceful, and it is frequently seen 



" Since the publication of the first edition of this volume, a very fine 

 male of this species was shot, in September 1829, in Thrunton Wood, 

 Northumberland, by the keeper of the Hon. H. T. Liddle, of Esfington 

 House ; a description of which was published in the first volume of the 

 Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, 

 and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Another beautifiil variety, with white head 

 and neck, was killed, in October 1831, at Cheswick, near Berwick on Tweed, 

 and kindly presented to me by Mr Donaldson. This bird is described 

 in the 2d volume of the Transactions above mentioned. 



