76 



FALCON. 



24 —HONEY BUZZARD. 



Falco apivorus, Ind. Orii. 1. 25. Lewin. i. 130. Faun. suec. No. 65. Gm. Lin. i. 2G7. 



Bris. i. 410. Id. S\ o. 117. Rait p. 16. Will. p. 39. t. 3. Brun. p. 5. Mm//. No. 



68. Kram.3Sl. Beckst. Deutsch.n. 263. Z)a?td, ii. 159. Shaw's Zool.y'n. p. 



114. Tew. i»/a7i. d'Orn. p. 23. 

 Die Bienfresser, Naturf. 8. s. 54. 



La Bondree, Buf. 208. PL Enl. 420. 423. ZiM«««. 1. 13. f. 75. 

 Honey Buzzard, Gen. Syn.\. p. 52. Id. Sup. Tp.lA. Br. Zool.'i. bQ. Id.foLphA.4. 



and A*. 4. Jrf. «(/. 1812. p.235. Arct. Zool. n. p. 224. I. Albin.i. p\.2. Will. 



Engl. 78- pi. 3. Bewick, i. pi. p. 17. Lewin. i. 1. 1. Id. 1. 1. f. 4. egg. White's 



Selborne, p. 109. Pult. Dors. p. 3. Wale. i. pi. 7. Orn. Diet. ^- Sup. 



LENGTH 23 in . weight 26 ounces, or more ; breadth four feet ; 

 bill and cere dusky ; irides golden yellow ; head ash-colour ; the rest 

 of the plumage above deep brown ; chin yellowish white, marked 

 with narrow brown lines ; fore part of the neck rufous brown ; breast 

 and belly transversely barred rufous and white, each feather being- 

 white, with two bars of brown ; tail dull brown, crossed with a 

 darker bar near the end, and another in the middle ; legs short, stout, 

 yellow ; claws black. 



That described in the British Zoology had the breast and belly 

 white, both marked witJi dusky spots, pointing downwards, and 

 three bars in the tail. Linneeus's bird had only one band on the tail, 

 the tip of wliich was white. Brisson obsei-^es, that the side tail 

 feathers are banded with white on the inner web, and spotted with 

 brown, but Albin's specimen had no bars on the tail. Hence we 

 may infer, that the bird is subject to much A^ariety ; insomuch as to 

 make it difficult to say what is the simple, or true state of the plumage. 

 That first described is taken from one in my own collection. 



This species is the least common in England of all the Buzzards, 

 and may be called rare. Willoghby supposes it to feed on the larvae 

 of wasps and bees ; also caterpillars, both hairy and smooth, have 



