I t was taken in a trap by Mr. F. Fulger, the Duke of
Northumberland’s game-keeper, a few days before, in the
Red Deer Park at Alnwick. This is, I believe, the first
time that this fine rapacious bird has occurred in Britain.*
The plumage was in very good condition, except on the
lower part of the body (where it had sustained some injury
from the trap), and agrees with that of mature specimens
in my collection, which I received from the Continent some
years ago. I t was proved by dissection to be a male.”
M. Jules Yerreaux has informed Mr. Gurney that the
Black Kite in France appears to be now more abundant than
formerly, and apparently in proportion as the Red Kite is
growing rarer. Dr. Bruch also, in the ‘ Journal fur Orni-
thologie ’ for 1854 (p. 278), states that in the neighbourhood
of Mayence, this species becomes commoner year by year.
In many parts of the continent, no doubt, the Black Kite,
like other birds which suffer much persecution during the
breeding-season, is becoming scarcer; but the evidence of
two ornithologists, so well-informed as those ju st named, as
to its increase in certain localities, leads naturally to the
supposition mentioned in the first sentence of this article.
Throughout nearly the whole of its wide range, the Black
Kite is a migratory bird, passing northward in spring, and
returning southward in autumn, so as fully to justify the
earliest specific name, the bestowal of which upon it can
be recognized—tha t of migrans, by Boddaert, though the
appellation of niger, which it received from Brisson, continues
to be used by many writers. The name of ater,
* I t must be observed, however, th a t Sibbald, in his ‘ Scotia I llu s tra ta ’ (part
iii. p. 15), published in 1681, includes among th e animals of Scotland “ Milvus
niger, a black Cried. An Lan ius ? "; and Don, in his Account of th e Plants and
Animals of Forfarshire, published, in 1813, as an Appendix to Headrick’s ‘ General
View of th e Agricul ture of th e County of Angus, ’ inserts in his list of birds (p. 39),
between th e names of Falco milvus and F. buteo, Falco a te r ; black eagle : on
heaths and low hills.’ I t is hardly probable th a t any light could now be thrown
upon th e species intended by th e first of these writers ; b u t th e localities given
by the second, as those frequented by th e bird he meant, almost preclude the
possibility of its being th e Falco ater of Grmelin—th e real Black Kite of authors,
which, as will presently appear, is ra th e r a woodland species ; and i t seems not
altogether unlikely th a t a Marsh-Harrier might have misled Bon.
J J .
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subsequently given by J. F. Gmelin, or that of cetolius by
Savigny—the last equally belonging to an allied species, is
also frequently applied to this bird.
Like the preceding species, the Black Kite is naturally an
inhabitant of forests or woodland tracts, and especially such
as are interspersed with lakes and rivers, whence it procures
the fishes and frogs which form its chief living food, though
it also preys upon insects, young birds, and the smaller
mammals. I t will besides eat offal as readily as the Red
Kite, and to obtain it shews remarkable fearlessness of
man, haunting encampments and entering towns ; but it
possesses no high courage, and submits to be robbed of its
booty by Crows or Daws. Dr. Finsch states that on the
Balkan he several times saw Black Kites and Ravens engaged
in devouring dead horses, and in many of the countries where
the species abounds it is regarded as a most useful scavenger.
M. Alphonse de la Fontaine, in his ‘ Faune de Luxembourg,’
describes the Black Kite as repairing daily at the same hour
to the waters where it seeks its food. Arrived there it descends
near the surface, following all the windings of the
river’s course with a slow’ flight, and, though never stopping
long at one place, its keen eye detects the least movement of
the fishes beneath. Watching the moment when one leaves
the deeper parts for a shallow, or to gain a rapid, it plunges
down and seizes the fish with its talons. On emerging it
shakes the water from its feathers, and proceeds to eat the
prey at a distance. This is its habit day after day without
varying the direction of its flight, except when it has young
and, having to perform more journeys to provide their food, it
lessens the extent of its beat. When the rivers are flooded,
and the bird is unable to fish in this manner, it betakes itself
to other quarry, and will at times in its boldness snatch away
poultry even from the interior of the farms.
The Black Kite has its nest in a tall tree, or selects the
roots of a shrub growing out of a rock—the first being its
usual practice in Europe, and the last that which it prefers
in Africa. In the Algerian Atlas, according to Mr. Salvin, it
builds a structure composed principally of sticks, with a lining