388 Fauna of Twizell. 



falcon is still occasionally seen, but its appearance is now rarer than 

 it used to be a few years ago. This may be attributed to the destruc- 

 tion of two or three eyries in the adjacent districts, one of which 

 was placed in the remains of the tower at Dunstanborough Castle, 

 and another in a craggy precipice upon a moor, about three miles 

 to the south-west of Twizell. Eyries, however, of this falcon still 

 exist in some of the precipitous gullies of the Cheviot range, and in 

 the lofty rocks of the magnificent promontory of St Abbs Head. The 

 merlin breeds, but sparingly upon the neighbouring moors ; and for 

 three or four successive seasons a pair had their nest within a stone's 

 throw of our little district. The increase of sheep stock, and 

 extended cultivation, is annually tending to diminish the num- 

 bers of this, as well as many other birds which formerly used to 

 abound. 



The kestril, as well as the sparrow-hawk, annually breeds with 

 us, the former in a crag in the Dean, or else in the old nest of a 

 carrion crow ; the latter is always its own architect, though it does 

 not excel in the art, as the nest is a large flat fabric, loosely con- 

 structed of twigs and sticks, with a very trifling central depression. 

 The sparrow-hawk has frequently as many as six young ones, and 

 the havock they make at this time among the smaller birds and 

 young game is almost beyond belief. I recollect inspecting a nest 

 in which lay the recent remains of a lapwing, a blackbird, a 

 thrush, and two green-linnets, some half devoured, and others 

 nearly whole, but all neatly and cleanly plucked. The common 

 as well as the rough-legged buzzard are only occasional visitants, 

 and the first is perhaps of even rarer occurrence than the latter, 

 but neither species has been seen for the last two years. The 

 honey-buzzard (Per. apivorus,) certainly one of the rarest of our 

 Falconidse, figures in the list ; as a fine specimen of the adult male 

 is now in my possession, taken within the precincts of the district 

 in September 1835, by means of a trap baited with wasp's comb, a 

 nest of which insect it had previously been observed to have scratch- 

 ed out from the root of a tree. Within the last five or six years 

 several honey-buzzards have visited Northumberland and Durham. 

 Of those that have been secured, three or four which J have seen 

 are in what is now considered the immature plumage of the male, 

 in which state the greater part of the head and neck is white, the 

 breast and belly with dark-brown lanceolate streaks. * In those 



* For a more detailed account of the honey-buzzard in this state, our readers 

 are referred to the first number of the " Illustrations of Ornithology," New 

 Series, and the Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. 



