adult, but also from each other. I have seen an immature example of a uniform chocolate-hrown, and 
otliers in a costume of mingled huff and brown. The bird evidently becomes whiter as it advances in age; 
some have delicate grey heads, and flanks beautifully barred with dark brown, w'hile older birds have 
strongly blotched markings over the whole of the under surface. The fine pair from which my figures were 
taken, were kindly lent to me for the purpose by John Rocke, Esq. They were trap[)ed near that gentle- 
man’s seat, Clungunford Hall, Shropshire, early in June 1865. 
Sir William Jardine stated in his address to the Members of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, in 
September 1836, that “ I he district around Twizell, in Northumberland, appears to be very attractive to 
this species ; for within a few years several specimens have been proeured, both in the adult and the imma- 
ture plumage. One of them was observed to rise from the site of a wasps’ nest which it had been attempting 
to excavate, and to a certain extent had accomplished the operation. The size of the hole which had been 
made showed that a much greater power could be employed, and that the bird possessed organs much better 
fitted to remove the obstacles wbich generally conceal its prey than a superficial examination of the feet 
and legs would seem to warrant. A few hours afterwards the task was found to be entirely eompleted, the 
comb torn out and cleared of the immature young. A steel trap, baited witb the comb, secured the 
aggressor in the course of the next day, when he returned to revie^v the scene of his previous havoc; and 
dissection proved that at this time mammalia or birds formed no part of its food.” 
Mr. Thompson states that the stomach of an example killed in Ireland contained a few of the larvae and 
some fragments of jierfect coleopterous insects, several whitish-coloured hairy caterpillars, the pupa of a 
species of butterfly, and also of the six-spot Burnet moth.” One examined by White of Selhorne eontained 
limbs of frogs and many grey shelless snails. In Mr. Stevenson’s ‘Birds of Norfolk’ it is stated that the 
stomaeh of an example killed at Holkham, and of a female taken at Saxmundham, was well filled with young- 
wasps ; in a third, killed near Lowestoft, were found the remains of Blackbirds’ eggs, and in the throat 
of a fourth several small fragments of the eggs of the Song-Thrush. Mr. Yarrell was told that one kept in 
confinement killed and ate rats as well as birds of considerable size. It will therefore be seen that, although 
wasps and their larvae form part of Its food, its diet is so much varied that it may almost be regarded as 
omnivorous. Buffbn says that in winter, when fat, it is itself very good eating. 
In his remarks upon two small birds in full plumage, shot at Northrepps, near Cromer, on the 25th of 
August, 1857, Mr. Gurney says, “About 9 o’clock this morning I was riding along a broad green drive 
which runs through a wood in this place, when a Honey-Buzzard rose from the grass and alighted on a tree 
at the edge of the wood. I shortly after sent my gamekeeper in pursuit of it, and he succeeded in shooting 
it near the sj)ot where I saw it. Hearing afterwards that it had been seen flying in company with a second 
specimen, he returned to the drive and succeeded in shooting that also, very nearly at the same spot where 
he had procured the first specimen, being guided in his search by loud whistling cries which the bird was 
making, probably as a call-note to the one which had been previously shot. About two hours later my son, 
who was passing through the drive, saw a third specimen rise from the ground and alight on a tree, in a 
similar manner and nearly in the same place as the first. The gamekeeper was again sent in pursuit ; but 
when he sueceeded in getting a view of this bird, it had risen so high in the air that it was out of shot, and 
continued flying at a great height, in an inland direetion, till it disappeared. Both specimens that were 
procured were in full adidt dress, and possessed the beautiful grey tinge on the head which always distin- 
guishes the adult examples of this bird. On dissection both of these specimens proved to be male birds. 
Their stomachs contained the remains of wasps and Avasp-gruhs.” 
The nest, which is of a very large size, Is placed in the forks of trees, often of the beech ; it is shallow in 
form, and built of sticks, of considerable size, intermingled with twigs with their leaves on, and is lined with 
leaves and wool. The eggs, which are generally deposited in June, are of a bright orange-brown, largely 
blotched, sometimes in the middle, at others principally at the larger end, with two shades of rich chestnut- 
hrown ; their average length is about two inches, by one inch and three-quarters in breadth. 
The principal figure in the accompanying Plate represents an adult male, of the natural size, with a nest 
of the Tree-Wasp; the reduced figures in the distance, an adult female and two immature birds. 
