210 
HONEY BUZZARD. 
trap on the 28th of August last, under circum- 
stances which) as illustrative of the peculiar 
habits of the species, I think it may not be 
altogether uninteresting to detail. On the after- 
noon of the 27th August, a large bird, apparently 
of the hawk species, was observed by Mr B. 
Atherton in the grounds at Twizell, to rise from 
the ground beneath the decumbent branches of a 
Platanus. Upon going to the spot, he observed 
a number of wasps ( Vespa vulgaris ) flying 
around, and part of a nest and broken comb 
scratched out of a large hole at the root of the 
tree, in which it had been built. The fact was 
mentioned on his return to the house, and from 
the circumstances detailed, I conjectured it might 
possibly be the work of a Honey Buzzard ; an 
inspection of the place an hour or two after- 
wards strengthened this supposition, as it was 
evident the aggressor had again been there, 
having nearly torn the whole of the comb to 
pieces, and cleared it of the wasps, grubs, and 
immature young with which it had been filled. 
At the suggestion of Mrs Selby, two steel-traps 
were set in the evening, close to the site of the 
destroyed wasp-hive, and baited with two large 
pieces of comb taken from another nest, des- 
troyed a few evenings previously. Upon looking 
at them early the following morning, they 
appeared undisturbed, but during the course of 
