NON INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 135 



Family FALCONID.^. Genus Milvus. 



Sub-family BUTEONlNyE, 



BLACK KITE. 



Milvus ater {Gmelifi). 



(British : Very rare abnormal spring migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, April, May, and June. 



Breeding area: South-western Palaearctic region. 

 The typical form of the Black Kite breeds throughout 

 Europe in suitable localities from Finland and Central 

 Russia southwards to the Caspian, Black, and Mediter- 

 ranean Seas, with the exception of Scandinavia, Den- 

 mark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northern France. 

 Eastwards it breeds in Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, and 

 Turkestan, while south of the Mediterranean it is widely 

 dispersed in North-west Africa north of the Atlas. 



Breeding habits: The Black Kite reaches its 

 European breeding grounds in March or early in April. 

 Its favourite haunts are marshy forests, but it may also 

 be met with in a great variety of other places. In 

 Algeria I met with it on the bare mountains, and on 

 desolate stony plains, as well as in towns. It is also 

 known to breed in or near various European towns. 

 Few other birds of prey are more widely dispersed or 

 inhabit such a varied description of scenery. The Black 

 Kite is a gregarious bird, and certainly breeds in colonies 

 in many places where it is not much molested by man. 

 Mr. Saunders met with a colony containing more than 

 ten nests in a small wood in Spain ; Captain Verner 

 found great numbers of nests in the pine woods on the 

 north bank of the Guadalquivir ; whilst in Algeria I 

 remarked a colony in the stupendous gorge of El 

 Kantara. The bird probably pairs for life. The nest of 



