This Buzzard eats lizards, frogs, and snails. It also feeds upon the larvæ of bees and wasps, which form the chief food of the young birds. Buffon says that in winter, when fat, it is good eating, a very rare circumstance with birds of this genus. It seldom flies, excepting from one bush to another; but, when on the ground, it runs with great rapidity, like a domestic fowl.
Willoughby observes that it builds its nest with twigs, on which it lays wool to receive its eggs. He saw one that took possession of an old kite’s nest to breed in, and that fed its young with the larvæ of wasps, for in the nest were found the combs of wasps’ nests, and, in the stomachs of the young, fragments of wasp-maggots. In the nest were two young ones, covered with white down, spotted with black. In the crop of one of them were two lizards entire, with their heads lying towards the mouth, as if they sought to creep out.
It would be highly interesting could we discover the manner in which this bird conducts its attack on a wasps’ nest. The close feathering round the base of the bill, is, no doubt, a protection against the stings of the insects which they attack.
THE GOSHAWK, (Falco, or Astur palumbarius,)
Breeds in lofty trees in Scotland, and destroys a great quantity of small game, which he seizes with his sharp and crooked talons, and carries to his nest. He is of the hawk tribe, and somewhat larger than the common buzzard; his bill is blue, and he has a white stripe over each eye, and also a large white spot on each side of the neck. The general colour of the plumage is deep brown; the breast and belly white, transversely streaked with black; and the legs yellow. Buffon, who brought up two young Goshawks, a male and a female, makes the following observations: “The Goshawk, before it has shed its feathers, that is, in the first year, is marked on the breast and belly with longitudinal brown spots; but after it has had two moultings they disappear, and their place is occupied by transverse bars, which continue during the rest of its life.” He further observes that, “though the male was much smaller than the female, it was fiercer and more vicious.” The Goshawk is found in France and Germany; it is not common in England, but is more so in Scotland. In former times the custom of carrying a Hawk or Falcon on the hand was confined to men of high distinction; so that it was a saying among the Welsh, “You may know a gentleman by his Hawk, horse, and greyhound.” Even the ladies in those times were partakers of this gallant sport, and have been represented in pictures with Hawks on their hands. At present hawking is almost entirely laid aside in this country, as the expense which attended it, being very considerable, confined it to princes and men of the highest rank. In the time of James the First, Sir Thomas Monson is said to have given a thousand pounds for a cast of Hawks. In the reign of Edward the Third it was made felony to steal a Hawk; to take its eggs, even in a person’s own grounds, was punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, together with a fine at the king’s pleasure. Such was the delight our ancestors took in this royal sport, and such were the means by which they endeavoured to secure it. The Falcons, or Hawks, chiefly used in these kingdoms were the Goshawk, the Peregrine Falcon, Iceland Falcon, and the Ger Falcon. The game usually pursued were cranes, wild geese, pheasants, and partridges. The Duke of St. Albans is still hereditary grand falconer of England, but the office is not now exercised, except for the Duke’s own amusement.