172 
ALLEN'S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
one of our rarest and most accidental visitors, for it has only 
been known to occur in the British Islands on one occasion, 
an adult male bird having been trapped in the deer-park at 
Alnwick in Northumberland in May, 1866. This specimen is 
now in the Newcastle Museum. 
Range outside tlie British Islands. — This Kite is found in most 
parts of Europe, though locally distributed in many portions 
of the Continent. On both sides of the Mediterranean Sea it 
is to a great extent resident and breeds, especially in Northern 
Africa, but, though nesting throughout Central Europe, it does 
not extend to Scandinavia, being again found throughout Russia 
from Finland and Archangel to the Caspian Sea. Its range 
extends eastward to Persia and Turkestan, but farther east 
its place is taken by Milvus govinda and M. melanotis. In 
winter it visits Africa, wandering even to the southern por- 
tions of the continent. 
Hahits. — Although very similar in its ways of life to the Red 
Kite, the present species seems to be a much shyer bird than 
its congener in Northern Europe, though in Southern Europe 
and the Mediterranean countries it is much commoner and is 
even found in some of the cities, which it frequents for the 
sake of the garbage it can pick up. It is particularly fond of 
fish, and is often to be seen beating over lakes and rivers in 
pursuit of fish on the surface or in the shallows. Its food like- 
wise consists of leverets, rats, mice and small birds, frogs, 
and insects. Although mostly found in forests and wooded 
districts, the Black Kite is sometimes met with in unexpected 
localities, and Mr. Dixon states that, when in Algeria, he found 
the Black Kite “ in the most desolate country, both on the 
plains and at altitudes of 7,000 feet in the Aures Mountains.” 
In Mr. Seebohm’s work on British Birds occurs the following 
note, translated from the writings of the late Professor Bog- 
danow. “Upon my arrival at Astrachan, I was greatly sur- 
prised at the numbers of Black Kites living in the town, and 
at their tameness. One could throw hardly anything out of 
the window, without two or three of these birds pouncing on 
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 
