The Zoologist— March, 1871. 2519 



Kite -This fine bird frequented the Malvern Hills in the middle 



leftl '. M ""T^'' ^"' ^'"J'""" Stillingfleet, the naturalist, in a 



ay "°i?l"h-n "7r' 'f " ""'''' ''^'^'"•"' ''''y ^«^'^' 1^^^'" 



eraJ'p- \ Vt "" ^^ '^''^^' ^^^'"^ ""^ ^'^^'-^ ««•"« <=attle 



graze overhead I see my favourite bird, the kite, sailing "* The 



o. .ed tad of the kite is unmistakable, but it is not to be seen 



about Malvern now. One was, however, shot in Croome Park, in 



th" I /" " °™'' '^ *'" '^^^ ^^'•- -^^b- Allies that, 



Great M T' ',''';"' ^"''^ '* ^^'"'='' ^^°"^ «^^ '-'- -''^h of 

 Great Malvern, kites frequented a wood there, and were often heard 



n.ak,ng a peculiar " mewing" noise ; they had, however, been perse- 



Tf^tr7''n"'' '"'t'"'^^ '"°"^^^^' "'^^"' ^^«"^ *-^"'y ^'^^'^ ago 

 (1850 the Gnmsend estate was unoccupied for a considerable 

 time, the kites returned to their old haunt, and remained till the 

 Grimsend again received a tenant: of course they were then soon 

 dislodged. 



[men lately passing leisurely through Herefordshire and Radnorshire 

 1 louud the kite by no means so rare a bird as I had been led to believe' 

 the unmistakably forked tail of this species enables the merest tyro in 

 Ornithology to recognise it at a glance. Two pairs bred in Eadnor Forest 

 in 1870, but the desolate sheep-walks known by this name are so bare of 

 trees that the kites are sadly puzzled to find one sufficiently lofty or suffi- 

 ciently sheltered to escape notice : the young in all the instances that came 

 under my notice were in paii-s, or supposed pairs-i e. male and female • it 

 IS certain they were always two. At the warrener's house at Water-break- 

 its-neck IS a fine stuffed specimen, and several ragged ones are nailed to the 

 trees and buildings in the warren. At the inn at Llaudegly there were two 

 young birds nearly full-grown : at Ponterwydd there are living specimens • 

 and throughout the district young kites are reckoned a marketable article' 

 and produce a guinea each. I was rather pressed to buy them at this 

 price, and should have done so, but for the difficulty of transit to London.- 

 E. Newman.] 



Peregrine Falcon. — I saw a specimen of this elegant but 

 fierce bird that was killed in Croome Park some years ago, and 

 several instances of its appearance there and in the vicinity are 

 recorded. It has been presumed that the preservation of pheasants 

 on the Croome demesne tempted the occasional visits of the 



* Stilliiigfleefs letter is given at length in Chambers's 'History of Malvern,' 



pp. 376-7. 



