BLACK KITE. 83 
nowhere to be seen. They had probably deserted the locality in conse- 
quence of Ulrich, the forester, having shot at the bird as she flew from the 
nest the week before our visit. He probably wounded her. The nest was 
about 45 feet from the ground, in a beech in the fork of one of the main 
branches of the tree. It was an entirely new nest, built this year, rather 
shallow, and perhaps three feet by two and a half, outside measurement. 
It was built of sticks and lined with dead moss and a scrap or two of paper. 
It was situated at the boundary of the estate where it joins Bismark’s estate of 
Varzin. The Bismark Platz, a clump of pines on a hill, looked down onto 
the nest. On this hill Bismark once picnicked; and the path by the lake-side 
under the nest is said to be a favourite walk of the great statesman. The 
nest was empty; but the Black Kite is so much shyer than the Common Kite 
that we thought she might have seen us and have flown away, though had 
she been there we ought to have seen something of her mate on the lake. 
It is said that the Black Kite does not line its nest with rags; but this 
statement is not correct, for Salvin, who met with this species very com- 
monly when birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas, found its nest adorned with 
pieces of the Arab burnous and lined withrags. He also states that its nest 
is_usually built amongst the roots of a tree growing out of the rocks. The 
nest is often covered with fish-bones; and, according to Dr. Holland, the 
young are fed on reptiles and young birds. The Black Kite will also rob 
the nests of other birds when it is bringing up its young. In Southern 
Spain Saunders states that the Black Kite is quite a sociable bird, as many 
as ten nests having been found in a small patch of the forest; and the - 
same authority also states that colonies of Sparrows often take up their 
quarters near its home. 
Geebel, who found many nests of the Black Kite in Southern Russia, 
states that the nest is very small, and that very often the head and tail of 
the sitting bird may be seen over each side of the nest. He also states 
that, if the eggs are taken before the full complement has been laid, the 
bird goes on laying, and will sit on the remainder; and should her eggs 
be taken, she lays again. He found fresh eggs during the last week in 
April and the beginning of May. When the nest is approached the parent 
birds will fly round the place uttering their cries. 
I am indebted to Capt. Verner for the following interesting notes 
respecting this bird in the south of Spain :—“ At Gibraltar I observed great 
numbers of Black Kites flying northwards, in company with Egyptian Vul- 
tures, Short-toed Eagles, Honey-Buzzards, and other birds, during the last 
week in March, in the years 1877-8 and 9. In May 1879 I was on board 
the Crown Prince of Austria’s yacht on the Guadalquivir, and found the 
Black Kite nesting in great numbers in the pine-woods on the north bank. 
On the 26th I climbed up to several nests only to find them unfinished. 
G2 
