MILVUS REGALIS. 
Kite or Glead. 
Falco milvus, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 20. 
Milvus regalis, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 414, pi. xxxiii. 
ictinus, Savig. Descr. de TEgypte, Hist. Nat. tom. i. p. 88. 
castaneus, Baud. Traite d’Orn., tom, ii. p. 146. 
russicus. Baud, ibid., p. 188. 
indgaris, Flem. Hist, of Brit. Anim., p. 51. 
ruler, Brehm, Vbg. Beutschl., tom. i. p. 50. 
regalis, Kaup, Classif. der Saugeth. und Vdg., p. 114. 
I HAVE remarked elsewhere that, by Linnaeus and the other ornithologists of his day, the Crows, Jays, and 
Pies were all included under the one generic term of Corvus ; and I may here state that in like manner the 
Eagles, Buzzards, Hawks, Falcons, and Kites were comprised in the single genus Falco. Since the period 
when the great Swede lived, men of science in ev^ery department hav^e studied nature more closely, have 
become more intimately acquainted with the habits and economies of those birds, and have perceived that 
they constitute so many distinct forms, to which generic terms should be applied ; and this has accordingly 
and very appropriately been done; for the Hawks differ from the Falcons, the Falcons from the Kites, and 
the Kites from the Eagles. Each of these groups, again, has been further subdivided ; for instance, the 
forest-loving Golden Eagle has been separated from the rock-frequenting Sea-Eagle and the lake-haunting 
Osprey, each of which, besides differing greatly in size, is characterized by peculiar habits ; but these need 
not be dwelt upon. 
The short-winged Hawk, with its quick-dashing low flight, differs from the hovering Kestrel ; the 
impetuous stoops of the true Falcons differ from the soaring, buoyant, and gracefully circling flights of 
the Kites, birds which suddenly descend upon, but never pursue, their prey, which live partly on carrion, 
dead fish, insects, small rodents, and fledgeling gallinaceae, but have neither the courage nor the disposition 
to encounter even so little formidable an opponent as the domestic Hen, the Pheasant, or the Partridge. 
They have been called “docile” birds, because it is the nature of some, if not of all the species, to sit about on 
the branches of trees near cities, villages, cantonments, and farm-steads, and thence to make forays into the 
very streets, and sometimes to become so bold as to suddenly descend and clutch the passing joint while being 
carried from the kitchen to the house or tent. Many such acts of daring are described as having been 
performed by some of the species. That something like this was the conduct of our bird in olden times, we 
may justly conclude from a statement of Clusius, who, according to Mr. Harting’s ‘Birds of Middlese.x,’ 
visited England in 1571, during the reign of Elizabeth, and who says that the Kite was formerly abundant 
in the streets of London, and that it was forbidden to kill it on account of its acting the part of a scavenger. 
The late Mr. John Wolley informed Mr. Hewitson that it was formerly so abundant in our Metropolis 
that several visitors from the Continent, besides the one above mentioned, have made a note of their surprise 
at its numbers and familiarity. “A learned writer in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ in an article upon the 
Bohemian Embassy in England some four hundred years ago, supposes that the word ‘ Milvi,’ in Schassek’s 
Journal, must have been a mistake for ‘ cygni,’ as London had always been celebrated for Swans ; but other 
old writers leave no room for doubt that the Kite was the most familiar bird with the citizens of Old London. 
How few of the persons who see the paper toys hovering over the parks on fine days in summer have any 
idea that the bird from which they derive their name used to float all day in hot weather high over the heads 
of their ancestors!” — Hewitson’s ‘ Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds,’ 3rd edit., vol. i. p. 36. 
In further confirmation of how common the Kite must have been, and how intimately its disposition and 
habits were known, especially to Shakespeare, we have abundant evidence in the many allusions made and the 
reproachful terms applied by him to the bird. Mr. Harting, in his communication to the ‘ Zoologist,’ “ On 
the Birds of Shakespeare,” speaking of the Kite, says: — “Although a large bird, and called by some the 
Royal Kite (^Milvus regalis), it does not seize living and strong prey, but glides about ignobly, looking for a 
sickly or wounded victim, or for offal of any sort. Our poet, therefore, has not inaptly called it ‘ the lazar 
Kite’ (Henry V., Act II. Scene I); and in alluding to its habits in ‘Julius Caesar’ (Act V. Scene 1) he says : — 
“ And /cites 
Fly o’er our heads and downwards look on us 
As we were sic/cly prey. 
“ Again, in Part II. of ‘ Henry VI.’ (Act V. Scene 2) : — ‘ A prey for carrion kites.’ From the ignoble 
