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indeed but rarely seen, even as a straggler, in localities where in 1856, 1857, 1858 it remained 

 to breed. I find from my note-books that three pairs nested in Argyleshire in 1858. One of 

 these pairs had frequented the neighbourhood of Bonavv for some years ; but I have not of late 

 been able to trace satisfactorily the existence of the species in that district, which is unfor- 

 tunately too much in the way of egg-collecting tourists. Two years previously one or two nests 

 were also obtained in Dumbartonshire ; an egg in my collection was taken from a nest in 

 Kenmore Wood,, on the banks of Loch Lomond. In almost every Scottish collection of any 

 consequence I find more than one specimen of the Kite — a fact which shows the species to have 

 been widely spread. Some of the specimens I have examined are extremely handsome, especially 

 those procured in the counties of Argyle and Inverness, where their prey for the most part must 

 have been lawfully obtained, without the indulgence of plundering raids among poultry. I have 

 been unable to trace its presence in any part of the Outer Hebrides ; but I find that the late 

 Dr. Macgillivray, in a communication to the Edinburgh ' Journal of Natural and Geographical 

 Science,' entitled ' An Account of the Outer Hebrides,' and published in 1830, remarks that the 

 Kite is very rare in these islands. Mr. Elwes informs me that in Islay it is still seen, but rarely, 

 flying over the island." According to Thompson it is only known as a rare visitant to Ireland ; 

 and, as Professor Newton remarks, Mr. Walters omits all mention of it. 



It does not occur in Greenland or Iceland ; but in Scandinavia it is common in the southern 

 districts, becoming rare towards the north. Mr. Robert Collett says that it breeds but rarely 

 in Norway, and only in the south-eastern portion, in Smaalehnene, especially near Frederikstad 

 and Frederikshald. In the spring and autumn it appears in limited numbers in the lower 

 portion of Southern Norway, and is often seen near Christiania, especially in spring. Northward 

 it has been observed as far as the Gudbrandsdale, where one was shot in 1834; and Dr. Printz 

 observed it at Land in 1849. It has also on several occasions been seen in Nedenses and near 

 Stavanger. In Sweden it is, according to Professor Sundevall, found breeding to 60° N. lat., or 

 a little further north, nearly in 61°, at Gene, arriving in March and leaving in October ; and 

 Nilsson says that it is common throughout the summer in Southern and Central Sweden, and 

 that occasionally a straggler remains in Skane over winter. It arrives in Southern Sweden from 

 the 20th to the 25th March, sometimes even earlier ; and its arrival is generally a sure sign that 

 winter has passed. It has not been recorded from Finland ; but Von Wright says that he has 

 been told that it occurs near Wyburg. During the year I spent in that town I never saw or 

 heard of it as having occurred there. In Russia it certainly occurs as far north as Archangel, 

 where my collector informs me it is not rare. Mr. Sabanaeff says that, according to DanilofT, it 

 breeds in the south-eastern portion of the Government of Orloff ; and Severtzoff says that it nests 

 in the Voronege Government. Bogdanoff considers that the Don is about the eastern boundary 

 of its range ; but Sabanaeff himself met with it near Ekaterinburg ; and in his MS. notes on the 

 avifauna of the Ural he states that he is sure he saw it in the Kaslinsky Ural. In Northern 

 Germany it occurs here and there during the breeding-season, and appears to nest more com- 

 monly in Pomerania than elsewhere. Mr. A. von Homeyer says that, according to Colonel von 

 Zittwitz, one sometimes finds them breeding so close together that two or three nests may be 

 seen from one place. 



In Denmark, Mr. Benzon informs me, it is found throughout the country, and is common 



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