“ Who finds the Partridge in the Puttock's nest,
But may imagine how the bird was dead,
Although the Kite soar with unblooded beak.”
But in some counties the Common Buzzard is also called a
Puttock. In Ireland, as I learn from Mr. Thompson of
Belfast, the Kite is unknown to Ornithologists as an indigenous
b ird ; but gamekeepers and others call the Common
Buzzard a Kite.
In France, as already mentioned at page 35, the falconers
of Louis the Sixteenth trained powerful Falcons, called Banners,
obtained from the eastern parts of Europe, to fly at
Kites for the gratification of the king ; and by some of the
Naturalists of the Continent the Kite is still called Milan
Royal and Milvus regalis, from the amusement afforded by
these birds to the royal parties.
In England the Kite was trained to be the pursuer, not
the pursued. Sir John Sebright says, that a the Fork-tailed
Kites were much flown some years ago by the Earl of Orford,
in the neighbourhood of Alconbury Hill. A great Owl, to
the leg of which the falconers usually tie a fox’s brush, not
only to impede its flight, but to make it, as they fancy, more
attractive, is thrown up to draw down the Kite.”
In proof of the docility of this species, Mr. Thompson of
Belfast relates that “ Mr. R. Langtry, when at Loch Awe, in
Argyleshire, early in the summer of 1833, procured from
the nest two young Kites, which proved a highly interesting
addition to his aviary. They at once became very tame and
familiar, and were so gentle in disposition as to be most
engaging. Every morning they had their liberty, never flew
far, but soared to a great height in the air, and, ‘ in still
repeated circles,’ displayed their peculiar and graceful flight.
To either lure or fist they always returned when called.
Mice were preferred by them to birds or any other food.
When these Kites were on wing, rats let off from the
cage-trap were expertly caught by them.”— Magazine o f
Zoology and Botany, vol. ii. p. 172.
This bird has now become comparatively rare in England;
extensive forests or well-wooded districts affording it the
only chance of escape from the increasing desire to preserve
game, and the consequent war of extermination carried on by
gamekeepers against birds of prey generally.
The nest, formed of sticks and lined with various soft
materials, is usually placed in the forked branch of a tree in
a thick wood. Two, and sometimes three eggs, of a short
oval form, measuring two inches two lines in length by one
inch nine lines in breadth, of a soiled white colour, marked
with a few reddish brown spots over the larger end, are laid
early in the season. The nest and its contents are sometimes
vigorously defended : a boy who climbed up to one had
a hole pecked through his hat, and one hand severely wounded,
before he could drive away the parent bird.
In the southern counties of England the Kite is rare:
Montagu saw but one in Devonshire in twelve years. Dr.
Moore considers it rare still, but records two or three
captures; and Mr. Couch mentions two instances of its
appearance in Cornwall. The woods about Alconbury Hill
are even now the breeding-places of the Kite. Mr. Water-
ton has noticed this bird and its habits in Yorkshire ; and
Mr. Selby states that though rare in Northumberland and
Durham, it is more frequent in Westmoreland and Cumberland.
Dr. Heysham, in reference to the last-named county,
says that the Kite breeds in the woods near Armathwaite,
and also in those near Ullswater.
The Kite is not uncommon in Denmark, Sweden, and
Norway, from spring till autumn ; but during the winter very
few remain there. I t inhabits Russia, Siberia, and the country
about Lake Baikal. In the southern part of Europe,
though rare in Holland, it inhabits the forests of Germany,