Birds. 437 



Note on the Honey- Buzzard's breeding in England. 

 By J. P. Wilmot, Esq.* 



The belief expressed by Mr. Fisher in your December number 

 (Zool. 375), that " the honey-buzzard has never, except in the in- 

 stance recorded by White of Selborne in the year 1780, been satis- 

 factorily ascertained to have bred in this country ; " and a remark 

 made by Mr. Hewitson, in his beautiful work on the eggs of British 

 birds, now in the course of publication, that " there is no recent in- 

 stance of the honey-buzzard having bred in this country," lead me to 

 believe that the following statement may possess sufficient interest 

 for insertion in ' The Zoologist.' 



Early in the month of July, 1838, a female honey-buzzard was shot 

 off her nest in Wellgrove-wood, in the parish of Bix, near Henley-on- 

 Thames, by a gamekeeper of Lord Camoy's named Lowe. The bird, 

 with two eggs taken from the nest, passed into the hands of a bird 

 stuffer at Henley, of the name of Hewer. I was then resident in the 

 Temple, and being an eager collector of the eggs of British birds, had 

 engaged a young friend, Mr. Ralph Mapleton, then living at Henley, 

 to secure for me any rare eggs that he might have an opportunity of 

 obtaining. Mr. Mapleton communicated to me the above occurrence, 

 and at my request purchased the eggs for me. I afterwards saw the 

 bird at the shop of Mr. Hewer, at Henley. The male bird, which 

 continued to haunt the neighbourhood of the nest, was not long aftei 

 killed by another of Lord Camoy's gamekeepers. The nest, a very 

 large one, was placed in the fork of a beech tree, and was built or 

 sticks of considerable size, with which were intermixed twigs with the 

 leaves on. The lining was composed of leaves and wool ; a great por- 

 tion of the nest was, I am told, remaining in the tree a short time ago. 

 I made no note of the occurrence at the time, but since my attention 

 was drawn to the subject by the appearance of the observations before 

 referred to, I have assisted my memory by application to Mr. Hewer, 

 and by his aid am enabled to give the above particulars with confi- 

 dence as to their accuracy. He informs me that the pair of birds are 

 in the collection of W, Fuller Maitland, Esq., of Park-place, near 

 Henley. 



In the month of June, 1841, a pair of honey-buzzards, male and 

 female, were sent to a naturalist of the name of Cashmore, at Bir- 

 mingham, where I then resided, to be stuffed for the Museum of Na- 



* Communicated by Wm. Yavrell, Esq. 



