80 FALCONDm 



tock, and the Crotchet-tailed Puddock. Merrett, in his 

 Pinax, and Shakspeare, in the Second Part of Henry the 

 Sixth, identify the term Puttock with the Kite : 



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

 But may imagine how the bird was dead, 

 Altho' the Kite soar with unblooded beak." 



But in some counties the 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 45, the falcon- 

 ers of Louis the Sixteenth trained powerful Falcons, called 

 Lanners, 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 royal and Milvus regalis, from the amusement 

 afforded by these birds to the royal parties. 



Sir John Sebright observes, 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." 

 The Owl is trained to fly round in small circles, and to 

 return when lured, and having performed his part of 

 decoy-bird, the Kite, thus enticed within the required 

 distance, then becomes the quarry. A cast of Hawks are 

 sent in pursuit, the capture and death of the Kite being 

 the real object intended. 



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

 of Belfast relates, that " Mr A R. Langtry, when at Loch 

 Awe, in Argyleshire, early in the summer of 1 833, procured 

 from the nest two young Kites, which proved a highly 



