It also preys occasionally on carrion, and has been seen to skim off dead fish and offal floating on the surface of the water with singular dexterity.

The Kite is partial to open downs and hilly districts, skirted with woods, to which it can retreat for security and the purpose of breeding. The nest, built in the forked branches of a tall tree, is composed of sticks and twigs, and lined with wool, and often rags or other soft materials; and the most secluded part of the forest is its chosen asylum. The eggs are three in number, and of a bluish white, with a few brown blotches.

The male and female differ little either in colour or size. The whole of the upper surface is of a reddish brown, each feather having its edge of a lighter tint. The feathers of the head and neck are long and pointed, of a dull grayish white, with longitudinal streaks of dusky brown; the under surface is rust colour, inclining to yellowish, with longitudinal dusky spots; the tail is of great extent, being twelve inches long, and much forked; it is of a bright reddish brown, with obscure dusky bands. The feathers of the thighs are long and loose; the toes are bright yellow. Length, two feet two or three inches; expanse of wings, five feet and a half.

The Kite is only once or twice noticed in the scriptures, and that as being among the birds unfit for food. Levit. xi. 14.

See

From the kites we pass on to the tribe of Buzzards, a slothful and inactive race, but possessed of considerable bodily powers. The beak is comparatively small and feeble; the tarsi variable, but generally short, and in some instances covered with short feathers to the toes; the wings are of considerable extent and rounded, the fourth quill-feather being usually the longest; the tail square or moderately rounded. The buzzards, or those at least which are truly contained in this section, are remarkable for a subdued and timid spirit: theirs is neither the bold deportment nor the daring energy which distinguishes the falcons or hawks of an equal or even inferior magnitude. They soar not aloft, nor sweep down like a thunderbolt

upon their prey, nor dash at it obliquely with an arrowlike precision; they sail not over wide tracts of country, hunting for it with eager scrutiny, but sit patiently upon their perch in the dense umbrageous gloom of the wood, watching till the snake or the lizard, or the rat or the frog shall appear, or the beetle shall flit by; on swift but steady wing they glide upon their booty, and return with it to their accustomed perch. Their flight is easy and undulating; though the body is stout and heavy.

As an example, we select the COMMON BUZZARD, (Buteo vulgaris.) In most wooded portions of England,

and over the whole of Europe, the Buzzard is one of the commonest of the birds of prey; but its courage and

energy are by no means equal to its size. Sluggish and inactive, it seldom hunts abroad unless pressed by hunger; it may then be seen sailing in easy undulations over the fields adjoining to the wood where it habitually resides. Its most common mode, however, is to sit on some branch commanding a view of the neighbouring lands, and slide silently upon its victim. Moles, rats, sometimes young rabbits, frogs, and insects, are its chief subsistence; and the time at which it is most active in quest of its food, is, if our own observations are a criterion, after the heat of the day, or even toward evening; we have, indeed, seen it, when almost dusk, flitting over fallow land bordered by woods. The Buzzard seldom troubles itself to make a nest, but contents itself with a deserted crow's or magpie's, which it enlarges if necessary. The eggs are three in number, of a dull white, slightly blotched with brown. If the Buzzard is ever furious, it is in defence of its young; and as its strength and size are very considerable, its homestead is not to be assailed with impunity. Though not so long as the kite, the Buzzard is larger and heavier ; its general length is one foot eight or ten inches: in colour it is subject to great variation, no two individuals exactly coinciding in their markings. The upper parts, however, are usually of a deep brown; the inferior of a yellowish white, with brown or reddish stains and dashes ; the tail barred; beak, lead colour; cere, iris, and feet, yellow. It is noticed in the Fauna Boreali-Americana as an inhabitant of the high latitudes of America, having been seen by the "expedition as far north as the 57th parallel of latitude, and has most probably a still higher range."

The HONEY BUZZARD, (Pernis apivorus, Cuv.) belongs also to this tribe. The genus Pernis, of which it forms the type, is at once recognised by the close thick velvety feathers which occupy the space between the beak and eye, a space in all the rapacious tribes besides, destitute of feathers, but clothed partially with long hairs radiating from a central point.

This singular bird, though far from common in England,

occurs perhaps more frequently than is supposed, its general resemblance to the common buzzard leading to a mistake as regards its real difference. In the south and eastern parts of Europe it is much more abundant.

The Honey Buzzard derives its name from the partiality it evinces for bees, wasps, and their larvæ, as food; not that it does not also prey upon small quadrupeds and reptiles, but not when these are to be obtained.

Willoughby observes, "that it builds its nest of small twigs, laying upon them wool, and upon the wool its eggs. We saw one that made use of an old kite's nest to breed in, and that fed its young with the nymphæ of wasps; for in the nest we found the combs of wasps' nests, and in the stomachs of the young the fragments of wasp-maggots. There were in the nest only two young ones, covered with white down, spotted with black. Their feet were of a pale yellow; their bills between the nostrils and the head white; their craws large, in which were lizards, frogs, &c. In the crop of one of them we found two lizards entire, with their heads lying towards the mouth, as if they sought to creep out."

.....

In the Magazine of Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 280, is a notice of one of these birds which was shot in Tendring Hall Park, Suffolk, in 1831. "The person who killed it saw it first on the ground; there were several wasps' nests. near the spot. On dissecting it, I found a quantity of wasps and nymphæ from the comb both in its craw and stomach, with a few small beetles." "It would be highly interesting could we be made acquainted with the manner in which this bird conducts the attack on a wasp's nest." "The hawk, in order to get at the comb, must in some way enlarge the entrance: the legs and claws of the bird I have described were very dirty even to the knee, most likely from searching much on the ground for food, and using them in making an entrance into the wasps' nest." The close feathering round the base of the bill is in all probability intended as a protection against the stings of these insects when seized and in the act of being crushed between the mandibles.

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The Honey Buzzard is a bird of passage, emigrating

It is about the

The

from Europe on the approach of winter. size of the common buzzard, but rather more slender; the crown of the head is of a pure bluish ash-colour; the upper surface deep brown inclining to grayish. secondary quill-feathers are barred alternately with dusky brown and gray; under surface whitish, with triangular reddish bars or dashes; tail crossed by three bars of dark brown. Length nearly two feet.

Of the buzzards having tarsi clothed with short close feathers to the toes, the ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD, (Buteo lagopus, LIN.) is the most familiar example. This bird is spread throughout most parts of the globe: though only an accidental visitor in England, it is far from being uncommon in the northern portions of the continent, where, as in America also, it is a bird of limited migratory habits. Its plumage is full and soft, a circumstance which, with its feathered tarsi, noiseless buoyant flight, and habits of coursing over swamps and meadows in pursuit of prey even after sunset, allies it to the owls. The third quill-feather is the longest.

Wilson (see American Ornithology) informs us that the Rough-legged Buzzard is common during winter in the lower parts of Maryland, and numerous in the extensive meadows below Newark, New Jersey. It appears that this bird, like the common buzzard, is in the habit of watching for its prey for hours together, and sliding with a circuitous course upon the first unlucky frog, mouse, or lizard that makes its appearance. Head, upper part of the neck, throat, breast, and thighs, pale rufous, or reddish white, regularly marked with longitudinal brown streaks; upper surface almost chocolate colour, each feather having a reddish margin; a broad girdle of dark brown passes across the lower part of the body, just below the breast, and extends from wing to wing. Tail pale rufous, verging into deep brown at its extremity. Length about two feet. The nest is built in lofty trees of sticks and twigs.

The last section or tribe of the present family is that of the Harriers. The harriers are distinguished from the