82 BRITISH BIRDS. 
At Bayonne I observed the Black Kite sailing over the market-place 
for some time, and afterwards beating up the river picking up float- 
ing garbage. Its motions on the wing are very similar to those of the 
Common Kite; but the tail is shorter and much less forked, and the bird 
is altogether a smaller one. The Black Kite is said to arrive at Bayonne 
in March, and is very common until June, when it disappears. They are 
nearly all immature birds, adult examples being rare. I am informed by 
Dr. Holland that in North Germany the Black Kite arrives at the end of 
March or beginning of April, and leaves again in September. 
In the Volga district the Black Kite is the commonest Raptorial bird, 
and also the most useful of its order. Bogdanow made many careful ob- 
servations on the habits of this bird. He says :—“‘ Upon my arrival at 
Astrachan I was greatly surprised at the numbers of Black Kites living in 
the town, and at their tameness. One could hardly throw any thing out of 
the window without two or three of these birds pouncing upon it. As 
soon as the August fishery commences, all these birds leave the town and 
go to the fishing-places, where the small and useless fish are cast away by 
the fishermen. The different localities mhabited by the Kite, and its 
occurrence in the steppes and valleys, certainly does not make it a formal 
resident of the plains ; and its rea! nabitation is the forest; there it breeds, 
and there it retires to roost. In the Volga district it never builds any- 
where else but on trees ; but in the Volga delta, where no oaks nor any other 
high trees exist, it constructs its nest on the very low trees which some- 
times grow amidst reeds. In the wooded parts of Kasan their food con- 
sists of young hares, moles, mice, and small birds, and in the towns and 
villages of garbage. In the river-valleys it preys upon frogs, water- 
rats, ducks, and other water-birds ; but in no case and in no locality does 
it despise carrion. Its migration from the province of Kasan commences 
im September, and draws to a close in October. This, however, largely 
depends upon the weather, as in dry and mild autumns, when there are 
many mammals on the steppes, they’leave later.” 
Dr. Holland informs me that the Black Kite is very fond of fish, but 
that it only takes them from the surface and when they are swimming 
in the shallows. 
I observed the Black Kite nesting in North Germany during the spring 
of 1882. About 20 miles from the coast, on the southern shores of the 
Baltic between Stettin and Dantzig, is the town of Stolp. About the same 
distance south of Stolp is the Lantow See, a lake about four square miles 
in extent, and surrounded on three sides by forests. This forest is princi- 
pally composed of Scotch fir, with a few beeches and now and then an oak. 
The first “ Horst ” that we were shown was that of a Black Kite. The 
birds, which used always to be observed fishing on the lake, were, however, 
