Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 177 



tainty. The Honey-Buzzard {Pernis apivoriis) is common in 

 most parts of Spaia, on passage. I observed a flight of many 

 hundreds of this species crossing the Straits of Gibraltar from 

 Spain to Africa in September 1856, and I shortly afterwards 

 obtained a fine specimen alive at Malaga. Vidal, in his ' Cata- 

 logue of the Birds of the Albufera of Valencia/ remarks that, 

 although the Honey-Buzzard is very common there in its imma- 

 ture dress, it is extremely rare to meet with an adult specimen. 

 I never heard of the Rough -legged Buzzard [Archibuteo lagopus) 

 in Spain, except on the authority of Don A. Machado ; and, as 

 mentioned above, all the birds so named by him in the Museum 

 of Seville are %^Qcm\en% oi Aquila pennata. The Common and 

 Black Kites, Milvus ictinus and M. ater, are common in Anda- 

 lucia — the latter perhaps more so than the former, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Seville, where it nests in church-towers and ruins. 

 Both species are well known to the country-people, who call 

 them Milano real and Milano negro. I saw a beautiful adult 

 specimen of the Black-winged Kite {Elanus melanopterus) in the 

 hands of a bird-stufiier at Seville, in April 1865, which had been 

 shot a few days previously in the marisma below Seville. It is 

 certainly not a common species in Spain, and I did not meet 

 with it in any museum. Of the Harriers, I distinctly made out 

 our three British species on the Albufera of Valencia. The 

 Marsh-Harrier (CeVcMS «rM_^mosM5), in Spanish^rpeZ/a, is veiy com- 

 mon throughout Spain; the Hen-Harrier {Circus cyaneus) I often 

 saw in the neighbourhood of Cordova, as also on the Guadalquivir 

 below Seville. Montagu's Harrier {Circus cineraceus) is not, I 

 think, common in Spain ; there is a specimen in the Museum of 

 Madrid. I did not meet with Circus pallidus. In conclusion, I 

 may mention that I hope shortly to revisit Spain with the ex- 

 press purpose of making myself better acquainted with her orni- 

 thology ; and I trust in some future Number of the ' Ibis ' to be 

 able to record my further experiences. 



Lilfoid, March 1865. 



