HONEY-BUZZARD. 71 



The Honey-Buzzard is a comparatirely silent bird ; but its alarm-note at 

 the nest resembles that of the Peregrine Falcon, though not so loud. 



In Pomerania the Honey-Buzzard does not build a nest of its own, but 

 selects one of the numerous Buzzards' or Kites" nests which abound in the 

 forest, relining them with a profusion of fresh green leaves or the ends of 

 branches of trees in full leaf. This lining is apparently renewed from time 

 to time. A preference appears to be given to beech-leaves ; but a nest 

 which was taken for me on the 11th of June last was redecked round the 

 edge with green pine and birch twigs, with a final lining under the eggs of 

 beech-leaves. The nest was in a beech tree about 25 feet from the ground, 

 and had been occupied the year preceding by a Buzzard. The bird sat 

 very close, and did not leave the nest until the climber threw a stick at it. 

 It then suddenly jumped up, took wing, wheeled round once or twice, but 

 soon settled on a branch near the nest, and looked down to see the cause 

 of the alarm. The nest contained two eggs. The climber took me to see 

 the old Buzzard's nest in a beech-tree about 45 feet from the ground, in 

 which probably the same pair of birds had bred the previous year. Two 

 seems to be the usual number of eggs ; but Sachse says that he once took 

 a nest of three ; and Mr. Benzon, the well-known ornithologist in Copen- 

 hagen, states that he has known four eggs to be laid. Sachse says that an 

 interval occurs of a week between the laying of the first egg and the 

 second. Incubation lasts three weeks ; and both sexes take their share of its 

 duties. 



The eggs of the Honey-Buzzard are very glossy or waxy in appearance, 

 and are very round, the small end being but slightly different from the large 

 end. They run through the same variations as the eggs of the Common 

 Kestrel or the Peregrine. The ground-colour varies from cream-colour to 

 pale brick-red, and the spots from brick-red to deep rich purple blood-red. 

 In some examples the ground-colour is entirely obscured ; in others 

 the blotches are almost confluent at one end of the egg ; whilst in others 

 they are more evenly distributed over the surface, or show signs of having 

 been scratched or rubbed off when the colouring-matter was wet. It is 

 usual to find in the same clutch an almost uniformly marked egg, and one 

 with the markings dispersed in irregular blotches. In size they vary 

 from 2-05 to 1-86 inch in length, and from 17 to 155 inch in breadth. 



In general appearance the Honey-Buzzard very much resembles the 

 Common Buzzard, but may at once be distinguished by the scales on the 

 tarsus which are finely reticulated all round instead of being in broad 

 plates at the front and the back. Another equally important distinction 

 may be found in the lores, which are finely feathered down to the cere 

 instead of being only covered with bristles. There appear to be two 

 forms of the Honey-Buzzard, a dark one and a light one. The adult male 

 of both forms has an ash-grey head and the rest of the upper parts uniform 



