FALCOXID^. 155 



tember and Xovember 1874 (J. G., Zoo]. 1S73, p. 3783 ; 1874, p. 4253 ; 

 1875, p. 4371). Bolitho, the Plymouth bird-stutt'tT, received lilty-niue 

 specimens in twenty years between 1852-72. It was most unmerous in 

 18G1. An albino killed at Castle Hill, jSTorth Devon, June 28th, 1849, 

 from Mr. E. C'umming's collection, is now^ in the A. M. M. An old male 

 shot Xovember 21st, 1891, between Modbury and Ivybridge, was white 

 washed over with smoky or dusky colour, especially on the head and 

 upper -wing-coverts near the carpal joint. There w^ere indistinct marks 

 across the breast and on the under wing-coverts (K. P. X.). 



Kite. Milvus ictinus, Savigny. 



[Fork-tailed Kite.] 



A casual visitor, of rare occurrence at the present day. It is said to 

 have been common in the neighbourhood of Dartmoor at the end of the last 

 century (T. J., liray's ' Tamar and Tavy,' vol. i. p. 346 ; and E. M., Trans. 

 Plym. Inst. 183U). Montagu, however, in the fcjupplcment to his ' Orni- 

 thological Dictionary' (1813), says : — "In twelve years' residence in Devon- 

 shire we never observed but one in the southern district of that county ; " 

 and in a M8. Xote-book for 1798, kindly lent us by the late Uev. John 

 Hellins, he observes that he had met with " the Kite rarely" in Devon. 

 In the Church Wardens' Books of the Parish of Littleham are a few 

 notices of rewards paid for killing " Kitts," which, however, may have 

 been only Buzzards. " 1658. Paid for eight Kitts killing ... Is. 4tZ. 

 1064. Paid 8cr John Bolle man for killing of Keete . . . Is. 1074. Paid 

 John Drake for killing of Keets . . . 0(/." (llcv. AV. Webb, ' Memorials of 

 Exmoutli," pp. 121, ]22, 123). Country people in Devonshire usually call 

 Buzzards and, indeed, all large Hawks, " Kitts " or " Keets," and we believe 

 that, if the genuine " Pork-tailed Kite " was ever plentiful in this county, 

 it must have been a very long time ago. Mr. E. H. llodd, however, speaks 

 of it as breeding in King's Wood, near Holne Chase, on the eastern borders 

 of Dartmoor, and says no Hawk was better known in the largo Avoodland 

 districts of the central part of Devon when he was a schoolboy at Buck- 

 fastleigh (B. of Cornwall, pp. 11, 200 ; Zool. 1870, p. 1980). If this 

 was a fact, and not a confusion of memory, it is remarkable that ^Montagu 

 should have known nothing about it, though in constant correspondence 

 with Dr. A. G. Tucker, of Ashburton, which is close to Buckfastleigh and 

 Holne Chase. Turton and Kingston (I.'S30) say it was "found in tho 

 more wooded ])art8 of the district ; rather a scarce bird ; makes a nest 

 with sticks, which it lines with wool." We suspect this latter piece of 

 information was copied from Montagu. 



But we do not believe that the Kite was at any time as common in 

 D».'Vonshire, or any of the South-western Cuunties, as it was formerly in the 

 Home Counties and in other ])arts of I"]iigl;iii(l. Only one example c;imo 

 under Col. .Montagu'.s notice during his icsidcnco of twelve y<'ars in South 

 Devon, although, from the manner in which he writes, the Kile was 



