MILVUS MIGRANS. Black Kite. Falco migrans, Bodd. Tab. de Pl. Enl., p. 28, no. 472. Accipiter milvus, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom, i. p. 3 Falco ater et F. austriacus, Gmel. edi i Svst. Ne 5 . —— fusco-ater, cee ee eae i : a a j - ae er a ee $., tom. 1. p. 27, et tom. viii. ee ole — ater et F. fuscus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 53. Milvus nger, Briss. Orn., tom. i. Des Alta ——— austriacus et F. ater, Daud. Orn., tom. ii. p- 149. Hydroictinia atra, Kaup, Class. der Sdug. u. Vos: p: 115. Milvus (Hydrotctinia) migrans, Gray, Hand-list of Birds, p. 26. DOF eee Hye Cee of a individual of this cee having been killed in ao s aneously a specimen was transmitted to me from Northern Australia,— facts which will give the reader an idea of how widely this species ranges over the globe. That there might be no mistake in the matter, I submitted the Australian bird to the inspection of or H. Gurne , immediately said it was identical with the European Milous migrans ; and Mr. Hancock’s testimony will, I am sure, be deemed sufficient as to the identity of the British-killed or Northumberland ex y, Esq., who ample. Either as a bird of passage or as a migrant this species is said to inhabit most of the central portions of I curope, Asia Minor, and almost the whole of Africa; we also find it in the lists of the birds of many other countries. “The geographical distribution of the Black Kite ” says Professor Newton, in his edition of Yarrell’s ee | ee ; i : : i ; ee ‘British Birds,’ ‘‘is extensive. Though not found in Norway, Sweden, or Finland, in Russia it reaches far to the north as Archangel, and thence across Siberia, becoming rarer to the eastward, and hardly observed as beyond the Lena. It is said by Pallas to winter in Persia, where De Philippi also found it. It is very common in the Caucasus; and Messrs. Dickson and Ross obtained it at Erzeroum. In Palestine, according to Canon Tristram, it arrives about the beginning of March in immense numbers, and scatters itself over the whole country. There is much discrepancy in the accounts of recent travellers as to its occurrence in Egypt, some stating that it is very abundant there, and others that they never met with it, and that a near ally (Ahieus egyptius) must have been mistaken for it. The explanation of the difficulty: probably lies in the fact that, while JZ. egyptius is a resident in Egypt, AZ megrans is a bird of passage only and may not always stop for the convenience of other travellers on its way down or up the Nile valley. Drs. Von Heuglin and E. A. Brehm include it as a bird of Eastern Kordofan and Abyssinia; and Mr. Blanford found it to be extremely common both in the highlands and lowlands of the latter country. Mr. Chapman sent specimens procured on the Zambesi to Mr. Layard ; and Mr. Edward Newton shot a bird, pronounced by Mr. Gurney to be of this species, in Madagascar. Mr. Layard also records an example killed at Colesberg, in the Cape Colony ; and Andersson met with it in Damara Land, where it arrives in autumn in large numbers, and remains throughout the breeding-season. In Western Africa it has been obtained at Bissao and on the Niger. It occurs in Morocco, and is very common in Algeria, breeding in the Atlas, but not occurring to the south of that range of mountains. In Europe it is said to be met with occasionally in Portugal and in Spain, where it breeds, as it also does in several parts of France. It does not seem to have occurred in Belgium ; but the Leyden Museum contains a specimen killed in Holland.” = ae i With respect to its solitary occurrence in England Mr. Hancock says (in ‘The Ibis for 1867, i 203) :— « earliest appellation ig southward in autumn—thereby fully meriting the earliest appellation, d in its wide range the Black Kite 1s migratory, proceeding northward in spring and returnu : . Pp An that of migrans, bestowed upon it by Boddaert. Mr. Salvin, writing of the bird as seen by him in the Eastern A ee oe ee ee i 7 it i re ant in the Souk-Harras district than J2. regats. ‘During the breeding-season 1t 1s much more abundant tlas, says, in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1859, p. 184 :— a Tr ZX = ~ oA ie a a O4ZOC « = cae CAG * -A