HONEY BUZZARD.
BOD Y MEL, IN ANCIENT BRITISH.
Pernis apivorus, CUVIER. Buteo apivorus, JENYNS. Falco apivorus, PENNANT.
Pernis—A kind of Hawk (Aristotle). Apivorus. Apis—A Bee. Voro—To devour.

This species is widely distributed over the earth, being found in India, and in various countries of Europe-rarely in Holland, unfrequently in France, and also in Turkey, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, the Levant, and other parts. In Asia also, in Siberia. If the specific English name is to be considered as in any way descriptive of the bird it is attached to, it has been well observed by Mr. Macgillivray that the term ' Honey Buzzard' should be set aside for 'Bee Hawk,' as the bird does not feed on the honey, the produce of the bee, but on the bee, the producer of the honey; except therefore by a sort of recondite implication, its present name must be considered as a misnomer. There is indeed one instance to the contrary recorded by Mr. J. T. Bold, who says, that an individual of this species, kept in confinement by Mr. John Hancock, 'not only ate honey, but did so with great apparent relish, preferring it to other food.' May it not however, possibly, have been thought to be eating the honey-comb, when it was in fact only picking it to pieces, or swallowing it accidentally in search of the food which its instinct led it to expect to find in it?
One kept in a tame state by Mr. Gordon Joseph Fisher, of Newton-on-the-Sea, lived in perfect amity with three Lapwings, a Seagull, and a Curlew. The one described by him had a quantity of moss in its stomach, which, as he very justly remarks, it had doubtless swallowed with the bees which were also found in it; yet no one would therefore contend that moss formed part of its food. It was observed by Mr. Fisher, when very hungry, to swallow pieces of comb with the larvae in it, eating both together in its hurry; but when it was not very hungry, it used to pick the insects out, and reject the comb.
It is easily tamed, and shews little or none of the fierceness of birds of prey.
In this country many more specimens of this bird have been noticed and procured of late years than formerly, doubtless from more attention having been directed to the study of ornithology. Montagu says that in his time it was extremely rare, and he describes a specimen which was killed at Highclere, the seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, in Berkshire. The Rev. Gilbert White mentions the circumstance of a pair having built in his parish, in Selborne Hanger, (the common name in Berkshire for a hanging wood.) Latham had only seen one recent specimen, and though Willughby says that it was tolerably common in his time, yet he most probably was not speaking with any very great accuracy. A. E. Knox, Esq. says that it is more frequent in Sussex than either the Kite or the so-called Common Buzzard. It will be observed that most of the specimens which have occurred have been on the eastern side of the island, which seems rather to confirm the supposition, suggested, by the nature of its food and the season of the year it has been met with, that it is a summer visitant.
In Yorkshire, a few specimens have been met with in the East and West Hidings, more, it is said, in the neighbourhood of Doncaster than in any other part, and it is not unlikely, as there are a great many large woods, as I well know, on all sides of that handsome town. One killed near York has the honour of being preserved in the British Museum. In the year 1849, one was obtained at Bridlington-Quay in the following curious manner:—'The goodman of the house had gone to bed, and about twelve o'clock at night, he was disturbed by a beating against his window. The noise continuing, he got up, opened the lattice, and captured a fine Honey Buzzard, which had been flapping and beating against it. One at Elamborough, on the 2nd. of June, 1855-In Lincolnshire one, a male, about the same time, near Louth. In Northumberland, one was killed at Wallington, and another in Thrunton wood in the same county, in the year 1829, as recorded by the Hon. H. T. Liddell, of Eslington House. One shot near Blaydon, two picked up dead on the sea shore, and two young male birds shot on the 26th. of August, near Hexham. These five last were procured in the year 1841. The parents of the latter two were also frequently seen. One near Twizel; one at Cheswick, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. In Sussex, Mr. A. E. Knox, in his pleasant 'Ornithological Rambles,'' a book of the right kind, says that though rare, a few specimens have been met with-one in Charlton forest; one or two near Arundel; one shot in September, in the year 1845, on Poynings Common; another obtained in the autumn of 1841, between Henfield and Horsham; and another shot in the forest of St. Leonard, by the gamekeeper of Aldridge, Esq.; one near Rye, in 1860, of which William Dawes, Esq., of Conduit Hall, wrote me word.
Others in Norfolk, Dorsetshire, and Worcestershire; also in Hereford-shire at Goodrich Court, and one near Ross, in the summer of 1881, as another about three years before: Mr. W. Blake my informant; and, though very rarely, in Cumberland, where it has been said to have bred in the woods near Lowther. One, also young, early in September, 1884, near Gunston, Lord Suffield's place. One was taken, and one shot near Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, in September, 1841; another at Honingham; one at Gawdy Hall wood, near Harleston; and one at Horning, in 1841, in the same county. One in Kent, in the parish of Lydd, and another near Dover, about the year 1845; a few others near Tunbridge Wells; two pair in Warwickshire, near Stone-leigh Abbey; and one in Suffolk. In Oxfordshire, a few have been recorded by my friend, (if after the lapse of so many years, 'eheu fugaces,' I may still call him so,) the Rev. A. Matthews, of Weston-on-the-Green. One of them he describes as having been taken in the following singular manner:—It had forced its head into a hole in the ground, probably in search of a wasp's nest, and becoming by some means entangled, was captured by a countryman, before it could extricate itself. In Devonshire one was trapped the beginning of August, 1850, by Lord Morley's gamekeeper, R. A. Julian, Esq., Junior, has informed me; and one on Dartmoor about 1848. In Cornwall one in the winter of 1866, as recorded by W. K. Bullmore, Esq., M.D.
In Scotland, three or four in Berwickshire, one of them about the month of June, 1845; also in Caithness.
The Honey Buzzard frequents woods, and especially those in which water is to be met with.
The flight of this bird is, like that which is characteristic of others of the smaller species of the Hawk kind, silent and swift, a gliding through the air without apparent effort, and for the most part low. It flies generally for only a short distance, from tree to tree. When on the ground it has been noticed by several authors to run with great rapidity, somewhat in the way that a pheasant does. It often remains for hours together on some solitary tree from which a good look out can be kept, and at such times has been observed to erect the feathers of the head into a sort of crest, indicative perhaps either of attention or sleep.
Although it is beyond all question that the Honey Buzzard feeds at times on small animals, such as moles and mice, reptiles, birds, lizards, and frogs, and small birds, yet I feel convinced that insects are the food which is natural to it, and which it therefore prefers. This is indeed conveyed by its Latin name, which happens in this instance, though circuitously, as before remarked, to be more appropriate than trivial names often are. Buffon says that it is itself good eating, but though it may be so in comparison with other birds more decidedly carnivorous, yet the authority of the French author will probably not have much weight with English tastes in the matter of the 'cuisine.' The larvae, namely the caterpillars, of bees and wasps, found in the combs of those insects, are a favourite food with the bird before us.
The one described by Montagu, was skimming over a large piece of water, in pursuit it would seem of the insects to be met with in such situations, and another, at least a bird which there is every reason to believe was of this species, was observed by the Rev. Mr. Holdsworth, skimming for several successive days over a large piece of water, called Slapton Ley, in the south of Devonshire, in pursuit of dragon-flies, which it seized with its talons; and then conveyed to its beak: the one mentioned before, as described by Mr. Liddell, was shot in the act of pursuing a wood pigeon. Whatever it had fed on seemed to have agreed with it, for that gentleman has described it as being so excessively fat, that the oil ran from the holes made by the shot, and that to such an extent, as to have rendered it extremely difficult to preserve the skin clean for stuffing. Rabbits, young pheasants, rats, frogs, and small birds, have been known to form the food of those birds, and even fish, when in confinement.
Its note is said to resemble that of the Golden Plover a plaintive sound; and it has another indicative of alarm.
The young, as recorded by White of Selborne, are hatched at the end of June, so that the period of nidification must be in the month of May, or the early part of June. A female is recorded by J. P. Wilmot, Esq., in the 'Zoologist,' page 437, as having been shot off the nest in Wellgrove wood, in the parish of Bix, near Henley-on Thames, by a gamekeeper of Lord Camoys. The male bird kept in the neighbourhood of the nest, and was shortly afterwards shot by another of the keepers. The nest itself was also taken with two eggs which it contained. The same gentleman also relates that both the pairs mentioned before, as preserved by Lord Leigh's gamekeeper, were breeding at the time. The nest of the pair mentioned by Willughby, contained two young birds; and again, another recorded by Pennant, two eggs. Of the five specimens which I have alluded to as having been found in Northumberland, two were young birds, evidently only just come out of the nest, which was built in a wood near the place.
According to White of Selborne, the nest of this species is built in trees, in the angle formed by the larger branches, and is flat in shape. It is composed of sticks, larger and smaller, and is lined with leaves or wool, or probably any soft materials that the birds can obtain. It sometimes appropriates the old nest of a Kite or other bird as its own. 'Fools,' says the proverb, 'build houses for wise men to live in; and the remark it would appear may sometimes apply to birds.
The eggs are two or three in number, and of a general dark rusty red colour, much blotted with still deeper shades of the same, some what like those of the Kestrel in general appearance, but very much darker. Others are but slightly dotted over at each end, the middle being belted with a dark red band; some are grey, much blotted with small spots. Others, again, are described by Temminck as yellowish white, marked with large reddish brown patches, and often entirely of that colour, or with numerous spots so close together that the white is scarcely perceptible.
This bird is of a slender and graceful form, and in many particulars fully justifies its separation by Cuvier from the preceding genus. Weight, about one pound ten ounces; length, about two feet, the males being rather under, and the females, as presently described, considerably over that measurement. The bill, which is black, or dusky, is small in comparison with those of the other Buzzards, nor is it so strong as theirs. The space between the bill and the eye is covered with short closely-set feathers, without hairs, as in most others of the Hawk tribe; cere, dusky greenish grey; iris, large and yellow, sometimes inclining to orange in the adult male. The head, which is rather flat, is very small, narrowed before, though broad behind, and looks still more so from, the nature of its plumage, and this particularly after the strikingly wide and large shape of that of the two preceding species. This feature gives the bird a very elegant appearance, to which the talented engraver of the plates to this work has done admirable justice. Its colour is a light brownish or bluish ash grey, sometimes white or cream white, the feathers in some cases being tipped with dark brown. The feathers of the neck behind are white for about two thirds of their length, and on the sides greyish brown, tending downwards to dark brown: sometimes the neck, like the head, is white, or cream white, or pale yellowish brown; nape, dark brown, or ash grey; chin, whitish, in some specimens white, as are the rest of the feathers round the base of the beak; throat, white, or yellowish white, with dark brown shaft lines; breast, white, yellowish white, or pale yellowish or sometimes pale orange brown, barred transversely with broad brown bands and triangular-shaped spots, tinged with rust-colour, which are lighter in front, and darker towards the sides: the light feathers are tipped with bright brown; back, dark brown shaded with grey, or ash-colour, the feathers themselves having a blot of a darker shade in the centre, and sometimes tipped with white, and many of them crossed by dusky marks, which cause a series of bars when the wings are closed. The wings are longer than those of the true Buzzards, and rounded at the ends; they expand above four feet; greater wing coverts, brownish grey; primaries, nearly black. The tail is very long, and in this particular, as well as in the length of the wings and the smallness of the head, this species shews an approximation to the Kites. The tip is brownish white, and the base of the feathers white, as is the case with most of the feathers on the body, if not with all. It is of a rather dark brown, tinged with grey, and barred with dark brown, generally two towards the base and one towards the end, the latter the broadest, but the bars vary, so that no dependance can be placed upon their number, and in some there is no bar at all; the middle feathers are the longest; tail coverts, partly white, some times white; under tail coverts, varied with yellowish brown and white. The legs are rather short, and feathered a little more than half way down, with flat scales, the front ones very large and six in a line, and on the fore part of the joint five series across of small square ones; the lower part is reticulated, and of a dull yellow colour; toes, dull yellow; they are covered above with transverse series of scales, en larging towards the ends, where they change into scutellae, of which there are four on the first, three on the second, three on the third, and four on the fourth. The claws, which are black, are long, rather slight, and very acute, but not much curved.
The female is a good deal larger than the male, namely, about two feet two inches; the forehead, bluish grey; upper parts of the plumage, deep umber brown; under parts, light yellowish red spotted with brownish red, sometimes white with dark crescent-shaped spots upon a white ground, and the upper parts barred with brown and grey.
The young are said to resemble the adult birds in colour, but Willughby describes them as covered with white down, spotted with black; subsequently the cere is brown; iris, brown; the head white spotted with brown; the upper parts deep brown; the feathers edged broadly with yellowish brown; the lower parts pale yellowish red or yellowish brown, spotted with reddish brown.
The Honey Buzzard is subject to very great variety of plumage. In the 'Zoologist,' pages 375, etc., there are figures and descriptions given by W. E. Fisher, Esq., of seven of its varieties gradually changing from a very dark and apparently almost black uniform colour, to nearly pure white on the breast and neck, with white markings on the wings. One he describes as being almost entirely-dark brown, with a few light spots about the neck and shoulders, and the tail as having three bars of very dark brown—the spaces between them being divided by narrower bars of a lighter tint than the former, but darker than the ground colour of the tail itself. A second, (described in a postscript, at page 795,) of which the pre-dominant colour was a light brown, rather darker on the back. The feathers round the neck, and also on the breast and legs, had dark margins; the quill feathers, black; secondaries, dark brown ; tertiaries, lighter—all these parts exhibiting a beautiful purple gloss; tip of the tail, light yellow, barred like the other; cere, pale yellow; iris, grey. The third variety in this interesting series had the head, breast, and back of a light brown, with streaks and blots of a darker colour. The wings, dark brown with light tips; quills, nearly black with light tips. The tail, like that of the first described, but more of a yellowish brown, tipped with the same. The fourth had the feathers on the top of the head and neck of a dark brown, with light tips, giving those parts a mottled appearance; round the eye, and between the eye and the bill, dark ash grey; a large patch of dark brown on the breast. The wings tipped with light brown, approaching to white on the quill feathers and secondaries; tail, as in the bird last described. In the fifth, the whole head light ash grey; wings, dark brown tipped with a lighter shade of the same; all the under parts white barred with brown. The tail, nearly like that of the last, but with a fourth bar or several patches in the form of a bar, at the upper end, tipped with light yellow brown. The sixth had the forehead white ; breast, white, with some patches of brown; round the eye, and between it and the bill, dark ash grey; neck, white with some dashes of brown; upper part of the wings, white slightly dashed with brown; secondaries and tertiaries, brown tipped with white. The tail, barred with two shades of dark brown, and tipped with light brown. The seventh had the wings alone tipped with white, as also the secondaries and tertiaries, the under parts without the brown patches, and the dark streaks much narrowed. The tail as in the last.
W. K. Bullmore, Esq., M.D., of Falmouth, has sent me the following description of another:—Length one foot eleven inches and a half; weight, twenty-three ounces; bill, black, much curved; base of bill, and cere, yellowish green; space between the cere and the eye, covered with closely-pressed feathers, white, with darker shafts and centres; iris, dark yellow; eyelids, yellow; over the eyes is an indistinct whitish mark; crown of the head, and nape, yellowish white, the bases of the feathers white, the centres dark brown, the margins lighter brown; throat, brownish white; back, dark purple brown, with a rich purple gloss, half of each feather white, its central portion, and towards the end fulvous brown with a lighter margin; upper wing coverts, lighter brown, with darker longitudinal streaks, the third and fourth quill the largest; primaries, black or very dark brown, the first four having one deep notch midway down the inner web of each; wings, underneath, greyish white marked with irregular darker bands; the wings reach to half the length of the tail; upper tail coverts, lighter brown, with darker longitudinal streaks. Tail feathers with five distinct bands of dark brown bars with intermediate lighter ones; underneath, the same, but the shades paler. Tip of the tail cream-colour or brownish white, the two outer feathers three quarters of an inch shorter than their fellows; breast, dark fulvous or chocolate brown, streaked with dark brown shafts and lines; under tail coverts, the same. Legs feathered half way down; middle toe a little the longest; the hind one stronger than the others. In one described by Montagu, the breast was light brown; and in another, described by the Hon. H. T. Liddell, all the under part was dark brown. Some have the head of a uniform ash grey; and Mr. A. E. Knox describes two, one of them as having the upper part of the head, the wings, and tail of a dark brown, and all the rest of the plumage of a beautiful cream white, or light straw-colour; the other as much resembling a Cuckoo in general appearance. Sometimes the whole plumage is strongly glossed with a purple tiut. One is described by Temminck, as having the head, neck, and all the under parts, yellowish, with dark shafts to the feathers.

"Love, like a greedy Hawk, if we give way, Does overgorge himself with his own prey."
COWLEY.