quills black, except on the basal portion of the inner web above the emargination, where they are white ; 

 one or two of the inner primaries slightly washed with greyish brown ; secondaries blackish, the inner 

 ones lighter, and slightly tinged with rufous brown ; on the under surface of the wing the secondaries 

 are whitish brown, with faint bars ; larger wing-coverts blackish brown, the median and smaller coverts 

 dark earth-brown, with dull white and rufous edgings ; tail and upper tail-coverts rusty red, the feathers 

 having black shafts, the central rectrices lighter, and the outer ones washed with brown towards the 

 tip, almost all having creamy white tips ; the outermost feather with the outer web dark brown, and 

 the inner web marked with a few faint bars ; lower throat, breast, and underparts rusty red, becoming 

 rich red towards the crissum, and striped more broadly on the breast and only narrowly on the 

 abdomen with blackish brown ; under tail-coverts rather paler rusty red ; bill bluish horn, becoming 

 black towards the tip ; cere and legs yellow ; claws black ; iris silvery white, with a yellowish tinge. 

 Total length about 25 inches, culmen T9, wing 19 - 0, tail 14 - 4, the central rectrices nearly 4 inches 

 shorter than the outer ones, tarsus 2 - 3. 



Female. Differs from the male merely in being somewhat larger in size, the head being slightly washed with 

 rufous, the tail lighter, and in general the colours rather paler than in the male. 



Young (Southern Spain) . Differs from the adult in having the crown blackish brown, marked with white, 

 the upper parts more marked with rufous, tail browner, and marked with spots or indistinct bars of 

 dark brown; throat white, as in the adult, but more narrowly striped with blackish; underparts pale 

 rusty red, all the feathers marked with large yellowish blotches or spots ; lower abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts yellowish white. 



The common Kite is found exclusively in the Western Palsearctic Region, being spread over 

 Central and Northern, and to some extent in Southern Europe during the breeding-season ; and 

 in the winter it is met with in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. 



In Great Britain, although it used formerly to be quite common, it has now become almost 

 extinct. Professor Newton says (Yarr. Brit. Birds, i. p. 94) that " formerly it abounded through- 

 out the country and even in London, where it seems there was a regulation for its protection, so 

 as to have been an object of astonishment to foreigners. Thus the Bohemian Schaschek, who 

 visited England about 1461, after mentioning London Bridge in his journal, remarks that he had 

 nowhere seen so great a number of Kites as there; and the statement is confirmed by Belon, 

 who says that they were scarcely more numerous in Cairo than in London, where they remained 

 all the year, feeding on the garbage of the streets and even of the Thames itself." With regard 

 to its present breeding-haunts, he says that "in the southern counties of England there seems to 

 be no place now where it habitually breeds. There were nests in Lincolnshire until the year 

 1857; but, owing in a great measure to the cutting down of the woods, it has probably been 

 driven from that locality. In the 'Zoologist' for 1871 (p. 2519), Mr. Newman mentions that 

 two nests were found in Radnorshire in 1870; so it is to be hoped that the species may still 

 linger in Wales until happier times await it. When the first edition of this work (Yarrell's Brit. 

 Birds) was published, the woods near Alconbury Hill were still the breeding-places of the Kite ; 

 but it was extirpated there about the year 1844, or soon after." In Scotland it has also become 

 almost extinct, and it only nests in some of the most secluded districts. Mr. R. Gray writes 

 (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 42) as follows: — "Generally 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 



