32 
FALCONID^. 
THE KITE. 
Milvus regalis. 
The Kite appears in Thomas Edmondston’s list* as a rare 
straggler : he had met with it on two occasions himself. A very 
intelligent and trustworthy man told me that several years 
ago, about the end of the spring, as nearly as he could recollect, 
he saw one sitting upon the roof of his byre a little after sun- 
rise. Having been repeatedly robbed by it of his laying hens, 
he was all j>repared for the chance, and, creeping out, knocked 
the bird over as it sat. He knew it to be a Kite, because, in 
a book the minister of the parish had once lent him, it was 
described as a bird of a reddish colour, about two feet in length, 
and having a forked tail. As he had frequently seen the bird 
flying above him, the distinctive character last mentioned had 
especially attracted his notice. No person in the island 
taking an interest in natural history at that time, he cut 
off the wings to amuse his neighbour’s children, and threw 
away the carcase. 
I believe I have seen the Kite four times in Shetland, but 
have no further evidence than that upon each occasion I could 
merely distinguish high up in the air a large bird somewhat 
resembling an eagle, but with longer wings and with a deeply 
forked tail. It is not included in Hr Arthur Edmondston’s 
list. 
THE COMMON BUZZAEH. 
Buteo vulgaris. 
This is another of the numerous species for which the 
I'eregrine Ealcon has been mistaken. In May 1858, after a 
run of steady south-east wind, I saw one resting upon a heap 
of stones at Uyea Sound in Unst. Having made this species 
a special study a few years previously in North Wales, I was 
immediately able to recognise it. There is no other record of 
* Zool. for 1844, p. 459. 
