164 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
Forest, it was much sought after there by collectors, 
and has been by now nearly exterminated. The fact, 
however, of its arriving at the end of May and beginning 
of June, when the trees are fully out in leaf, may help 
to preserve longer the stragglers which still continue to 
visit that district, and all that can possibly be done to 
protect it is done by the Hon. Gerald Lascelles, and 
special watchers are even appointed to watch over any 
which may appear and show a disposition to nest in the 
Forest. 
Of a bird that is so interesting, and which is even 
now on the verge of extinction in the county, we have 
considered it advisable to collect all the information 
possible, and have therefore quoted at some length from 
various writers. 
The historic nest in Gilbert White's Selborne is thus 
described in letter xliii. to Pennant. " A pair of honey- 
buzzards, Biiico apivorus sive vespivorus, 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 Selborne 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, which 
had been sat on for some time, and contained the embryo 
of a young bird. The egg was 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. Ray'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 
