BLACK KITE. 99 



subsequently given by J. F. Gmelin, or that of fctolius by 

 Savigny the last equally belonging to an allied species, is 

 also frequently applied to this bird. 



Like the preceding species, the Black Kite is naturally an 

 inhabitant of forests or woodland tracts, and especially such 

 as are interspersed with lakes and rivers, whence it procures 

 the fishes and frogs which form its chief living food, though 

 it also preys upon insects, young birds, and the smaller 

 mammals. It will besides eat offal as readily as the Red 

 Kite, and to obtain it shews remarkable fearlessness of 

 man, haunting encampments and entering towns ; but it 

 possesses no high courage, and submits to be robbed of its 

 booty by Crows or Daws. Dr. Finsch states that on the 

 Balkan he several times saw Black Kites and Ravens engaged 

 in devouring dead horses, and in many of the countries where 

 the species abounds it is regarded as a most useful scavenger. 



M. Alphonse de la Fontaine, in his 'Faune de Luxembourg,' 

 describes the Black Kite as repairing daily at the same hour 

 to the waters where it seeks its food. Arrived there it de- 

 scends near the surface, following all the windings of the 

 river's course with a slow flight, and, though never stopping- 

 long at one place, its keen eye detects the least movement of 

 the fishes beneath. Watching the moment when one leaves 

 the deeper parts for a shallow, or to gain a rapid, it plunges 

 down and seizes the fish with its talons. On emerging it 

 shakes the water from its feathers, and proceeds to eat the 

 prey at a distance. This is its habit day after day without 

 varying the direction of its flight, except when it has young 

 and, having to perform more journeys to provide their food, it 

 lessens the extent of its beat. When the rivers are flooded, 

 and the bird is unable to fish in this manner, it betakes itself 

 to other quarry, and will at times in its boldness snatch away 

 poultry even from the interior of the farms. 



The Black Kite has its nest in a tall tree, or selects the 

 roots of a shrub growing out of a rock the first being its 

 usual practice in Europe, and the last that which it prefers 

 in Africa. In the Algerian Atlas, according to Mr. Salvin, it 

 builds a structure composed principally of sticks, with a lining 



