252 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
LETTER XCIIT. 
TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 
A PAIR of honey-buzzards — Buteo apivorus, Linn., sive Vespi- 
vorus, Raii — built them a large shallow nest, composed of twigs 
and lined with dead beechen leaves, upon a tall slender beech 
near the middle of Sel borne Hanger, in the summer of 1780. In 
the middle of the month of June a bold boy climbed this tree, 
though standing on so steep and dizzy a situation, and brought 
down an egg, the only one in the nest, \vhich had been sat on 
for some time, and contained the embryo of a young bird. The 
egg v^as smaller, and not so round as those of the common 
buzzard ; was dotted at each end with small red spots, and 
surrounded in the middle with a broad bloody zone. 
The hen-bird was shot, and answered exactly to Mr. Eay's 
description of that species ; had a black cere, short thick legs, 
and a long tail. When on the wing this species may be easily 
distinguished from the common buzzard by its hawk-like ap- 
pearance, small head, wings not so blunt, and longer tail. This 
specimen contained in its craw some limbs of frogs and many 
grey snails without shells. The irides of the eyes of this bird 
were of a beautiful bright yellow colour. 
About the 10th of July in the same summer a pair of sparrow- 
hawks bred in an old crow's nest on a low beech in the same 
hanger ; and as their brood, which was numerous, began to grow 
up, became so daring and ravenous, that they were a terror to 
all the dames in the village that had chickens or ducklings under 
their care. A boy climbed the tree, and found the young so 
fledged that they all escaped from him ; but discovered that a 
good house had been kept : the larder was well stored with pro- 
visions ; for he brought down a young blackbird, jay, and house- 
martin, all clean-picked, and some half devoured. The old bird 
