HONEY BUZZARD 
201 
side," and a regular village nuisance, owing to its 
habit of flying ofF with the household washing 
when hung out to dry on the hedges. There are 
still many * 'Kite's Nest Farms scattered about the 
country, and it was not till towards the middle of 
the last century that the bird began to grow really 
uncommon. In colour it is mainly reddish-brown ; 
it has a very graceful, gliding flight, and floats in 
lofty circles like the Buzzard, from which it may 
be distinguished by its long, forked tail. Its note 
is a shrill scream, or a sharp, repeated call. It 
builds in trees, making a nest of sticks, lined with 
various kinds of rubbish, such as bits of paper, and 
in earlier days the linen which it stole from the 
garden hedges, as well as wool and hair. The two 
or three eggs are about as large as a Buzzard's, 
bluish-white in ground colour, spotted and streaked 
with reddish-brown. The Kite feeds on small 
birds, animals, and reptiles, as well as on young 
game and poultry, and on carrion. 
HONEY BUZZARD. 
(Pernis apivorus.) 
Wasp Hawk. — This, too, is a very rare species in 
this country, but, unlike the Kite, it never seems 
to have been a particularly common one. It is a 
