82 BRITISH BIRDS. 



At Bayonne I observed the Black Kite sailing over the market-place 

 for some time^ and afterwards beating up the river picking up float- 

 ing garbage. Its motions on the wing are very similar to those of the 

 Common Kite ; but the tail is shorter and much less forked^ and the bird 

 is altogether a smaller one. The Black Kite is said to arrive at Bayonne 

 in March, and is very common until June, when it disappears. They are 

 nearly all immature birds, adult examples being rare. I am informed by 

 Dr. Holland that in North Germany the Black Kite arrives at the end of 

 March or beginning of April, and leaves again in September. 



In the Volga district the Black Kite is the commonest Raptorial bird, 

 and also the most useful of its order. Bogdanow made many careful ob- 

 servations on the habits of this bird. He says : — " Upon my arrival at 

 Astrachan I was greatly surprised at the numbers of Black Kites li^dng■ in 

 the town, and at their tameness. One could hardly throw any thing out of 

 the window without two or three of these birds pouncing upon it. As 

 soon as the August fishery commences, all these birds leave the town and 

 go to the fishing-places, where the small and useless fish are cast away by 

 the fishermen. The different localities inhabited by the Kite, and its 

 occurrence in the steppes and valleys, certainly does not make it a formal 

 resident of the plains ; and its real habitation is the forest ; there it breeds, 

 and there it retires to roost. In the A^olga district it never builds an 



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where else but on trees ; but in the Volga delta, where no oaks nor any otlier 

 high trees exist, it constructs its nest on the very low trees which some- 

 times grow amidst reeds. In the wooded parts of Kasan their food con- 

 sists of young hares, moles, mice, and small birds, and in the towns and 

 villages of garbage. In the river-valleys it preys upon frogs, water- 

 rats, ducks, and other water-birds; but in no case and in no locality does 

 it despise carrion. Its migration from the province of Kasan commences 

 in September, and draws to a close in October. This, however, largely 

 depends upon the weather, as in dry and mild autumns, when there are 

 many mammals on the steppes, they leave later." 



Dr. Holland informs me that the Black Kite is very fond of fish, but 

 that it only takes them from the surface and when they are swimmino- 

 in the shallows. 



I observed the Black Kite nesting in North Germany during the spring 

 of 1882. About 20 miles from the coast, oil the southern shores of the 

 Baltic between Stettin and Dantzig, is the town of Stolp. About the same 

 distance south of Stolp is the Lantow See, a lake about four square miles 

 in extent, and surrounded on three sides by forests. This forest is princi- 

 pally composed of Scotch fir, with a few beeches and now and then an oak. 

 The first " Horst " that we were shown was that of a Black Kite. The 

 birds, which used always to be observed fishing on the lake, were, however. 



