240 JOURDAIN : THE BREEDING OF THE HONEY BUZZARD.
have been breeding or about to breed ; also that, when corres-
ponding with Mr. Miller Christy on this subject, before he knew
of the locality where Mr. Pearson's egg was taken, he wrote to
me : "I have some reason to believe that breeding took place
in 1888 and 1895 in the Little Baddow Woods, which are very
extensive." Later, Mr. Christy amplified this information by
the statement that the discoverer of the reputed Honey Buzzard's
nest in 1895 was his friend, the late Mr. E. A. Fitch. F.L.S., of
Maldon, Essex. In the spring of the year named. Mr. Fitch
found, in a small oak tree in a wood on the edge of Woodham
Walter Common (but in the parish of Little Baddow), a large
hawk's nest, evidently freshly built, as the twigs still had on
them many green and withered leaves. It contained no eggs.
Mr. Fitch visited it on three subsequent occasions, taking with
him several ornithological friends. On one of these occasions,
a large hawk slipped off as he approached ; but. so far as he
knows, no eggs were ever laid in the nest. Mr. Christy adds
that, some time afterwards, he himself saw the nest and that
he could still point out the particular tree in which it was built.
Although no one was able positively to identify as a Honey
Buzzard the bird seen, it could hardly have been anything else.
To sum up : there is no doubt that breeding took place and
at least one egg was laid at Little Baddow in June 1847, and
some probability that a pair nested in the same woods in 1888 ;
while there is evidence that a nest was built at Little Baddow
in 1895, but apparently came to nothing.
I should like to acknowledge the cordial help received during
this investigation from Mr. J. H. Gurney, the Registrar of
Norwich Diocese (Mr. L. G. Bolingbroke), and Mr. Miller Christy.
[It may be worth while to add that there appears to be
some error in regard to the egg recorded by the late Mr. W. J.
Sterland (Descriptive List of the Birds of Nottinghamshire, 1879,
p. 9) as having been taken in 1869 from a nest within six miles
of London. This, if correct, could only mean that the nest was
built in Epping Forest. There is, however, reason to believe
that Sterland was deceived, and that the egg passed off upon
him as a Honey Buzzard's was nothing more than a Hen's egg
skilfully painted.—M.C.]