68 FALCONID.E. 



" Who finds the Partridge in the Puttock''s nest. 

 But may imagine how the bird was dead. 

 Although the Kite soar with unblooded beak." 



But in some counties tlie Common Buzzard is also called a 

 Puttock. In Ireland, as I learn from Mr. Thompson of 

 Belfast, the Kite is unknown to Ornithologists as an indi- 

 genous bird ; but gamekeepers and others call the Common 

 Buzzard a Kite. 



In France, as already mentioned at page 35, the falconers 

 of Louis the Sixteenth trained powerful Falcons, called Lan- 

 ners, obtained from the eastern parts of Europe, to fly at 

 Kites for the gratification of the king ; and by some of the 

 Naturalists of the Continent the Kite is still called Milan 

 Roi/al and Milvus regalis, from the amusement aiforded by 

 these birds to the royal parties. 



In England the Kite was trained to be the pursuer, not 

 the pursued. Sir John Sebright says, that " the Fork-tailed 

 Kites were much flown some years ago by the Earl of Orford, 

 in the neighbourhood of Alconbury Hill. A great Owl, to 

 the leg of which the falconers usually tie a fox's brush, not 

 only to impede its flight, but to make it, as they fancy, more 

 attractive, is thrown up to draw down the Kite." 



In proof of the docility of this species, Mr. Thompson of 

 Belfast relates that " Mr. R. Langtry, when at Loch Awe, in 

 Argyleshire, early in the summer of 1833, procured from 

 the nest two young Kites, which proved a highly interesting 

 addition to his aviary. They at once became vei-y tame and 

 familiar, and were so gentle in disposition as to be most 

 engaging. Every morning they had their liberty, never flew 

 far, but soared to a great height in the air, and, ' in still 

 repeated circles,' displayed their peculiar and graceful flight. 

 To cither lure or fist they always retm-ned when called. 

 Mice were preferred by them to birds or any other food. 

 When these Kites were on wing, rats let off from the 



