128 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



occupied, and a few fresh strips of bark just added as a 

 lining. The nests are never very high up, and indeed 

 are so flat that, if much exposed to the \Yind, their 

 contents ^YOuld be seriously endangered. Like the rest 

 of the Hawks, this species does not lay an egg every 

 day, nor does it begin to sit on the first egg, though it 

 will do so after two or three have been laid. Mr. T. 

 Altham has taken eggs as early as the 16th of April, 

 but the beginning of May is a more usual time, the 

 dates varying with the seasons. He has seen eight 

 eggs in a nest once, and six is not an uncommon 

 number, but the average is not more than five. The 

 Sparrow-Hawk is sometimes very savage when her 

 home is being disturbed, and I have seen the hen sit 

 screaming on the nest-edge whilst the climber was 

 ascending the tree, and fiercely strike at his head or 

 hand as soon as he came within reach. It feeds mostly 

 on small birds and the larger insects, and Mr. B. N. 

 Peach states that once, when lying on the grass, a male 

 bird alighted within a few yards of him, and shuffling 

 along in the usual ungainly fashion, caught the crane- 

 flies, which swarmed there, in one foot, and transferred 

 them at once to its mouth. 



GENUS MILVUS. 



KITE. 



MiLvus icTiNus, Savigny. 



The Kite has long been exceedingly scarce, and now 

 only occurs very infrequently. At one time it must have 

 been well known, for WiUiam Blundell of Crosby, as 

 quoted in "A Cavalier's Note-Book" (ed. Gibson), writes 



