20 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



had. It does not, however, confine itself entirely to insect 

 food, as the remains of earthworms and slugs, as well as of 

 moles, rats, mice, and frogs, have been found in its stomach. 

 Willughby says that it runs very swiftly, 'Hike a hen." It 

 is perfectly harmless, and it is a great pity that it is not 

 protected, and allowed to breed with us, as we have the 

 authority of Gilbert White that it did at Selborne, and of 

 others that it has bred in the New Forest. According to 

 Montagu, it breeds in high trees, forming its nest of sticks 

 of considerable size, intermixed with small twigs with the 

 leaves on, and the lining is composed of green leaves and 

 wool. It generally lays two eggs. I have in my collection 

 three specimens killed in Sussex : — one, in the summer of 

 1837j in Ashburnham Park, and in that of 1841, an old 

 female, shot at Newtimber ; also a young male, shot in Shave 

 Wood in Albourne, in the act of scratching out a wasp's 

 nest. This bird is in remarkable plumage, greatly resem- 

 bling that of the Osprey in its second year. Mr. Dennis, 

 writing to me in August 1858, told me that he had seen a 

 Honey Buzzard which was shot in the month of June of 

 that year, by one of Lord Gage's keepers, in the Plashet, a 

 wood in Pirle Park ; its stomach contained caterpillars and 

 the remains of mice. 



Mr. Knox refers to specimens obtained in the neighbour- 

 hood of Arundel, and in St. Leonards Forest, and between 

 Ashdown Forest and the borders of Kent. He considered 

 this bird decidedly less rare than the Common Buzzard. 



Mr. Ellman mentions (Zoologist, p. 2411) an immature 

 bird shot at Udimore, in the latter part of 1844, and (p. 8335) 

 two others are recorded as seen together near Eastbourne : 

 one was shot, in an apple tree, at Birling Gap Farm, and the 

 other near Seaford, a few days afterwards, in September 

 1 863. At p. 8875 we read of a bird, which could have been 

 no other than a Honey Buzzard, shot on Halnaker Common, 



