172 LLOYD'S* NATURAL HISTORY. 



one of our rarest and most accidental visitors, for it has only 

 been known to occur in the British Islands on one occasion, 

 an adult male bird having been trapped in the deer-park at 

 Alnwick in Northumberland in May, 1866. This specimen is 

 now in the Newcastle Museum. 



Range outside the British Islands. This Kite is found in most 

 parts of Europe, though locally distributed in many portions 

 of the Continent. On both sides of the Mediterranean Sea it 

 is to a great extent resident and breeds, especially in Northern 

 Africa, but, though nesting throughout Central Europe, it does 

 not extend to Scandinavia, being again found throughout Russia 

 from Finland and Archangel to the Caspian Sea. Its range 

 extends eastward to Persia and Turkestan, but farther east 

 its place is taken by Milvus govinda and M. melanotis. In 

 winter it visits Africa, wandering even to the southern por- 

 tions of the continent. 



Habits. Although very similar in its ways of life to the Red 

 Kite, the present species seems to be a much shyer bird than 

 its congener in Northern Europe, though in Southern Europe 

 and the Mediterranean countries it is much commoner and is 

 even found in some of the cities, which it frequents for the 

 sake of the garbage it can pick up. It is particularly fond of 

 fish, and is often to be seen beating over lakes and rivers in 

 pursuit of fish on the surface or in the shallows. Its food like- 

 wise consists of leverets, rats, mice and small birds, frogs, 

 and insects. Although mostly found in forests and wooded 

 districts, the Black Kite is sometimes met with in unexpected 

 localities, and Mr. Dixon states that, when in Algeria, he found 

 the Black Kite " in the most desolate country, both on the 

 plains and at altitudes of 7,000 feet in the Aures Mountains." 

 In Mr. Seebohm's work on British Birds occurs the following 

 note, translated from the writings of the late Profess )r Bog- 

 danow. " Upon my arrival at Astrachan, I was greatly sur- 

 prised at the numbers of Black Kites living in the town, and 

 at their tameness. One could throw hardly anything out of 

 the window, without two or three of these birds pouncing on 

 it. As soon as the August fishery commences, all these birds 

 leave the town and go to the fishing-places, where the small 

 and useless fish are cast away by the fishermen. The different 

 localities inhabited by the Kite, and its occurrence in the 



