12 EGGS OF BKITISH BIRDS. 



white to pale brick-red, and the spots from brick-red to deep 

 rich purplish blood-red. In some examples the ground-colour is 

 entirely obscured ; in others the blotches are almost confluent at 

 one end of the egg ; whilst in others they are more evenly dis- 

 tributed over the surface, or shew signs of having been scratched 

 or rubbed off when the colouring-matter was wet. It is usual to 

 find in the same clutch an almost uniformly-marked egg, and one 

 with the markings dispersed in irregular blotches. In size they 

 vary from 2'05 to 1'86 inches in length, and from 1'7 to 1*55 inch 

 in breadth. 



THE COMMON KITE. 

 {Milvus regalis.)* 



Plate S, Fig. 7. 



In the present day the Kite must be looked upon as an acci- 

 dental visitor to England, but it was formerly a common resident, 

 and even at the present day it nests in a few localities in England 

 and Scotland. In Ireland it has always been a rare bird. It may 

 be said to breed in most parts of Europe, to be resident in the 

 central and southern portions, and migratory in the north. 



The breeding-season commences early in May. The nest is 

 sometimes a very bulky structure, and is flat, similar to that of 

 the Sparrow-Hawk. Few rapacious birds show such a partiality 

 for collecting rubbish for their nests as does the Kite, and in 

 Germany, where it arrives at the end of February or the begin- 

 ning of March, I was shewn several nests in May. 



The eggs of the Kite are generally three, sometimes only two 

 in number, and most closely resemble those of the Buzzards, but 

 are, as a rule, distinguished from them by their more scratchy 

 and streaky appearance. When newly laid, they are of the palest 

 bluish-green in ground-colour, which soon fades to white or nearly 

 so, sparingly spotted and blotched with dark reddish-brown, with 

 a few shell-markings, ill-defined and of a pale purplish-grey. 

 Some specimens are far more heavily marked than others, being 

 clouded and dashed with colour, similar to the eggs of the Rough- 

 legged Buzzard-Eagle ; others are dirty bluish-white in ground- 



* Milvus ictinus — Saunders, Manual, p. 325 (1889). Milvus milvus — Sharpe, Handb. 

 Brit. B., II, p. 168 (1895). 



