42 
FALCONIDiE. 
and rested on two large arms which grew out from the 
trunk, and was built with sticks, some of them as thick 
as his fingerand that his brother had u shot a Honey 
Buzzard off its nest in the same wood some ten years 
ago,” that nest also being built between three large arms 
just at the top of the trunk. Mr. Wilmot goes on to 
say, “ I had particularly asked whether boughs, or twigs 
with the leaves on, formed part of the materials with 
which the nest was constructed, in order to ascertain 
whether it resembled the nest near Henley in that pecu¬ 
liarity, if it should be so termed, for the presence of 
boughs with the leaves on merely proves that the Honey 
Buzzard, like the rook, does not use dead materials only 
in constructing its nest. Live boughs plucked at the 
season at which these nests were built, would necessarily 
be clothed with leaves. June seems to be the usual 
season of nidification in this country. White’s nest was 
robbed in the middle of June,- the nest at Stoneleigh 
was not completed when the birds were shot about the 
10th of June. The nest near Henley contained eggs 
in the early part of July, and the young birds men¬ 
tioned by Willoughby were fed with the nymphae of 
wasps, which would not be obtained before the end of 
July. And, as far as can be collected from the recorded 
instances, there seems to be reason for supposing that 
the number of eggs laid by the Honey Buzzard is below 
the number usually laid by birds of prey of correspond¬ 
ing size. In the instance mentioned by White, the 
single egg found in the nest contained the embryo of 
a young bird; the nest mentioned by Pennant, con¬ 
tained two eggs ; and the nest mentioned by Willoughby 
(I am availing myself of the information collected by 
Mr. \ arrell), contained two young birds. The nest near 
Henley contained two eggs only, and the state of the 
