42 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



legs, which was wholly gone from the thigh downwards. I saw 

 both birds about three weeks after the incident happened. Per- 

 haps the hawk was in the habit of frequenting towns and farm- 

 steadings, and had been accustomed to attack objects of easy 

 access; at any rate, it showed great pluck and remaining strength 

 in making such an attack, and committing so much mischief with 

 one foot and a stump. 



On the Outer Hebrides this bird is perhaps confined to Lewis 

 and Harris, except in winter, when a few cross the Sound, and 

 range over the other islands in search of prey. 



THE KITE. 



MILVUS VULOARIS. 



Clamhan-gobhlach Croman lochaidh. 



FROM being a very common bird in many of the wooded dis- 

 tricts of Scotland, the Kite, or salmon-tailed gled, as it is called, 

 has become almost as scarce as the goshawk or the osprey. Gene- 

 rally speaking, its best-known haunts in the West of Scotland have 

 been, during the last ten years, almost entirely deserted, and the 

 bird is now indeed but rarely seen, even as a straggler, in localities 

 where, in 1856-57-58, it remained to breed. I find from my note- 

 books that three pairs nested in Argyleshire in 1858. One of 

 these pairs had frequented the neighbourhood of Bonaw for some 

 years, but I have not of late been able to trace satisfactorily the 

 existence of the species in that district, which is unfortunately too 

 much in the way of egg-collecting tourists. Two years previously 

 one or two nests were also obtained in Dumbartonshire; an egg 

 in my collection was taken from a nest in Kenmore wood, on the 

 banks of Loch Lomond. The structure remained there until 1864, 

 or the year following, an interesting remnant of the last of the 

 Kites. The materials of which it was built would have almost 

 suggested the idea of the birds having robbed some wandering 

 gaberlunzie of the contents of his wardrobe, a pair of ragged 

 trousers, worn stockings, and part of an old shirt (the latter flap- 

 ping on the tree-top like an old worn banner) being among the 

 articles. 



The Kite formerly bred also in Stirlingshire, Ayrshire, and the 



