70 
FALCONIDiE. 
fed the young regularly for eight days, or until he was himself 
secured : he must have dropped the food to them during the 
whole period, as he could not otherwise have fed them without 
being trapped or snared.* It is stated, that all the birds brought 
to the young were plucked, and had the heads taken off. Young 
birds were procured three years successively from nests there on 
a particular branch of the same tree, though there was abundance 
of wood in the demesne. The food contained in many sparrow- 
hawks which I have examined, consisted of birds only. 
The sparrow-hawk's mode of flight is admirably described by 
Sir William Jardine,t and a full and excellent description of the 
species is given by Mr. Macgillivray ; Professor Wilson, too, dis- 
courses on it in his own eloquent manner. J 
THE KITE. 
Milms regalis , Briss. 
Falco milvus , Linn. 
Is known only as a very rare visitant. 
The name of “ Kite " appears commonly in the catalogues of 
birds given in the Statistical Surveys of the Irish counties, and 
elsewhere; but, as the larger species of the Falconidm are in 
some places called Kite and Glead, as well as Goshawk or Goose- 
hawk, there can be no doubt that the buzzard, or some common 
species, was generally meant. The mere fact of rewards having 
been offered in the Irish Statutes || for the destruction of the 
“ kite," as one of the birds of prey, does not prove anything with 
respect to the veritable species. 
Smith, in his History of Cork, completed in 1749, could hardly 
be mistaken, as he does not content himself with stating that 
“■ the kite is distinguished from all other birds of prey by its 
forked tail," but adds, “ that it remains with us all the year." He 
* See Macgillivray, Hist. Brit. Birds, vol.iii. p. 354 and 360. 
t Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 151. 
X Recreations of Christopher North, vol. i. p. 90-91. 
|| 11th Anne, ch 7 and 17 ; Geo. II. ch. 10. 
