THE KITE 



[ORDER: Accipitres. SUBORDER: Falcones. FAMILY: Buteonidce. 



SUBFAMILY: Milvince] 



PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



KITE [Milvus milvus (Linnaeus); Milvus ictinus Savigny. Red-kite, red, 

 fork-tailed or salmon-tailed glead, puttock. French, milan royal ; German, 

 roter Milan ; Italian, nibbio reale], 



1. Description. The kite may be distinguished at a glance by its deeply 

 forked tail and the chestnut colour of the tail. The sexes are alike, and there is 

 no seasonal change of plumage. The male has the head and neck white, with 

 black striations ; mantle rufous brown ; tail rufous, and deeply forked ; the under 

 parts rust-red, striped on the breast with dark brown. Cere and legs yellow. 

 Iris whitish yellow. Length 22 in. [559'0 mm.]. The female differs from the male 

 in being slightly larger, and somewhat duller in hue. Length 24 in. [609'0 mm.]. 

 Immature birds are much duller, especially in the head, which is of a pale brown 

 with darker striations, and all but the middle tail feathers are barred with black. 

 Young in down white, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. Formerly widely distributed in Great Britain, but now 

 confined to mid- Wales, where, owing to careful preservation, about twenty birds 

 still exist. In 1905 only five birds were known, and the species was on the verge 

 of extinction, but it has responded well to the measures taken for its protection. 

 In Lincolnshire the last nest was taken in 1870, and a few pairs lingered till a still 

 later period in Scotland. There is no reliable evidence of its presence in Ireland. 

 On the Continent it ranges north to about lat. 61 in Sweden, but has now become 

 rare in Denmark, and in Russia is only found east to the Tula and Orel govern- 

 ments and the Dnieper River. Over the rest of the Continent it is thinly dis 



VOL. IV. Q 



