THE HONEY BUZZARD. 
545 
young ones are at first fed with caterpillars, flies, beetles, 
worms, &c., which the old birds collect in their crops, and 
then throw up ; later they are treated to pieces of wasp’s- 
nest filled with larvae, frogs, mice, young birds, &c. The 
parent birds still continue to feed their young long after 
the latter have left the nest; both young and old birds 
remain in company almost till the moulting season comes 
round, when they migrate more to the southward,—say 
to Spain, to the South of France, Greece, and Turkey. 
I have never found this bird in Africa. 
The Honey Buzzard is much shyer than its cousins, 
and does not allow itself to be easily approached within 
gun-shot, and is still more difficult to trap; it cannot be, 
taken in the usual manner, as it has not pluck enough to 
strike at the Eagle Owl,* and it is just as shy of a small 
bird in a trap. This bird is most easily taken in a gin, 
with a frog or mouse tied on as bait. 
Every sensible land-owner and forester is a friend to 
Buzzards, and protects them in every possible manner, 
on account of the valuable services rendered by them. 
When the Common Buzzard has young it catches daily 
' over one hundred mice, with which to satisfy the hunger 
of itself and nestlings. Observers, upon whose word we 
can rely, have taken as many as thirty field-mice at one 
time from a Buzzard’s crop : thus this bird is valuable, if 
only as a mouser. Buzzards soon get to know where 
they meet with protection, and become very tame. One 
thing is indispensable if one would seek to attach them 
to a district or locality, and that is never to allow them 
to be disturbed while breeding; and, furthermore, as an 
additional temptation for them to take up their abode in 
flat districts, almost destitute of trees, it is well to erect 
* The Eagle Owl is much used as a decoy for birds of all sorts.— W. J. 
