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SHORT COMMUNICATIONS. 



Birds. — The Kite, a Fishing Bird. — Sir, As it has never 

 come under my observation to witness, or, indeed, to have 

 heard, that the habits of this bird so generally dispose it to 

 take its prey from the water, as the under-mentioned facts will 

 show, I have sent you my remarks on the subject. Since I 

 have been a resident at this place, at different times, for seve- 

 ral years past, I have remarked, from the windows of the hotel 

 which I inhabit, and which look directly on the river Loire, 

 birds of the kite kind constantly, daily I may almost say, 

 coming from the opposite forest, to fish in the river. This 

 they seem to do with much success, seldom appearing to miss 

 their prey, in plunging into the water, as almost universally 

 they go off towards the forest after having done so. The 

 river being wide, and as they generally keep to the forest side 

 of it, I cannot always see the kind of prey which they take ; 

 but, when the river is low, and the sand-banks appear in it, I 

 have then often seen them settle thereon, devouring the fish 

 they have taken. Mr. Waterton's remarks (Vol. V. p. 239.) 

 upon the error of those who suppose that birds of prey usually 

 soar aloft, when looking out for their prey, is most forcibly just 

 with respect to these birds, which, when looking out for prey 

 in the river, never fly high, but quite the contrary ; though, 

 at other times, when amusing themselves in their playful or 

 amatory flights, and over the river, they soar so high, as 

 to appear scarcely larger than swallows. I shall finish these 

 remarks with saying, that they are not the observations of a 

 single day, or more, but made at various times, during several 

 years' residence at this place. — H. B. Blois, June 1. 1832. 



P. S. I have said, at the beginning of this paper, that I 

 constantly see kites coming from the forest to fish in the river. 

 I ought to say a kite. I never saw more than a single bird 

 fronting my windows ; but, lower down, I have remarked 

 another doing the same thing ; and so on. — H. B. 



One word more. The ash-coloured falcon, a very common 

 bird here, hunts for its prey at not more than a foot or two 

 from the ground. I see them constantly at it. — ff. B. 



The Pride of Colour in Swans. — Some years since, I visited 

 Malmaison, the delightful retreat of the Empress Josephine. 

 I sat in the homely arm-chair, at the still more homely table 



