FALCON I D.«. 



327 



THE BLACK KITE. 



MiLvus MiGRAXS (Boddaert). 



The term ' Black ' is by no means inapplicable to this bird as 

 observed flying, when the dark under-surfaces of the wings and 

 the general sombre hue of the plumage are very noticeable ; the 

 tail is also much less forked than in the Red Kite. Although a 

 regular summer-visitor to the valleys of the Rhine and the Moselle, 

 and other districts of the Continent at no great distance from our 

 shores, yet the Black Kite has only once occurred in Great 

 Britain. This was an adult male, now in the Newcastle Museum, 

 which had been taken in a trap in the deer-park at Alnwick, and was 

 brought in a fresh state to Mr. John Hancock on May nth 1S66. 



In Scandinavia this species has not been obtained, but it 

 arrives on the southern side of the BaUic about the end of March, 

 and leaves again in September; while, on migration, it occurs 

 annually on Heligoland. Owing to its partiality for marshy forests, 

 open valleys and the vicinity of water, it is somewhat local in its 

 distribution ; but it breeds regularly, in suitable localities, in Germany, 

 Switzerland, and the southern half of France. In Spain it is very 



