122 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



tributed, but is scarce in the Balkan Peninsula, though common in Spain. It also 

 breeds in North-west Africa, east to Tunisia and in the Western Canaries, and in 

 small numbers in Palestine and Asia Minor, but not in Egypt. Our British-breeding 

 birds are sedentary, but those from the north of Europe migrate southward in 

 winter, but appear not to cross the Sahara, though this species has been recorded 

 from Gambia, and Mr. M. J. Nicoll has seen two in Egypt. [F. c. R. jr.] 



3. Migration. A rare resident in mid-Wales, and occasionally occurring 

 as a visitor from the Continent on the east of Great Britain. There are also a 

 few Irish occurrences on record. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Like many of the larger birds of prey, the red-kite is 

 often content to adopt the old nest of some other bird, so that there is considerable 

 variation in the size of the nest, and in many cases nothing but the internal 

 lining is contributed by the birds themselves. In the British Isles and on the Euro- 

 pean Continent it nests almost invariably on trees, but in the Atlas nests have 

 been recorded in niches of cliffs. Where available a tall tree is generally selected, 

 and the nest is lined with bits of paper, rags of all kinds, bones and dry dung. 

 (PI. LXIV. ) The share of the sexes in providing this material is apparently unrecorded. 

 The eggs are, as a rule, three in number, sometimes only two, and rarely four, and 

 are laid at intervals of two or three days. They are dull white or bluish white in 

 ground-colour, with blotches, smears, and often characteristic hair lines of red- 

 brown ; but often one egg in a clutch is unmarked, and sometimes a nest may be 

 met with in which all the eggs are of this type. Average size of 100 eggs, 2' 19 x 1'76 

 in. [55-7 x 44*9 mm.]. From the scanty evidence available it appears that incu- 

 bation is performed by the female bird, who leaves the nest to feed at times, 

 particularly in the early morning, about half-past three A.M. In Tiedemann's 

 Table the period is stated as 21 to 24 days, but this is probably erroneous, and I 

 believe that it lasts for a full month. In South Spain eggs may be found from 

 mid-March (exceptionally it is said even in January), but in Wales the more usual 

 time for full clutches is about the second week in April (rather earlier than the 

 buzzard), and in Germany from mid- April to the beginning of May. Only a single 

 brood is normally reared, but second layings may sometimes be found when the 

 first clutch has been destroyed, [p. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. The main food of the Welsh kites consists of rabbits, but other 

 small mammals such as squirrels are occasionally picked up, and owing to its 

 greater powers of flight many birds are captured. E. T. Booth found in the 

 nests in Scotland lapwings, grouse, and the young of curlew, duck, and pigeons ; 



