The Natural History of Ireland/Volume 1/The Kite
THE KITE.
Milvus 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 Falconida 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 Footnote 1 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 remarks, however, what we should hardly have expected, that " these birds are so common as to need no particular description." But when the country was more richly wooded, and less populous than at present, it was much better circumstanced for the kite. With the exception of its being stated to have been seen by the Eev. Joseph Stopford, near Blarney, and at Ballincollig Castle, in 1827,Footnote 2 it is now unknown, not only in the county of Cork, but in the whole south of Ireland.
A native bird, either in a wild state, or preserved in a collection, has not come either under my own cognizance, or that of any of my ornithological correspondents; but I have no doubt of the species having been seen in the following instances, as communicated to the Annals of Natural History, in April, 1838. Mr. Adams, the intelligent gamekeeper at Shane's Castle (the seat of Earl O'Neil, on the borders of Lough Neagh), informed me, that " in cold weather," about eight years before that period, he had seen a kite on two or three occasions, hovering over Glenarm Park (Antrim) ; and that in March, 1835, his attention was called to a strange bird, which appeared for three successive days in Shane's Castle park, that proved to be of this species. In both instances, the forked tail served for specific distinction : — neither bird was obtained. My informant knew thespecies well, from having taken it frequently in Northamptonshire: he described it accurately to me. I had before heard from an old gamekeeper, who had hived for many years at Shane's Castle, of a few kites " with tails forked like swallows" having been killed there My friend, William Ogilby, Esq., in one instance, many years ago, saw this species in the county of Londonderry.
Mr. Richard Langtry, when at Loch Awe in Argyleshire, early in the summer of 1833, procured from the nest two young kites, which proved a highly interesting addition to his aviary. They at once became very tame and familiar, and were so gentle in dis- position as to be most engaging. Every morning they had their liberty, and never flew far away, but soaring to a great height in the air, "in still repeated circles," displayed their peculiar and graceful flight. To either lure or " fist " they always returned when called. Mice were preferred by them to birds or any other food. When these kites were on wing, rats let ofP from the cage-trap were expertly caught by them. At the shooting- quarters of Aberarder, in Inverness-shire, a locality apparently well suited to the kite, only one bird was seen by the last-named gentleman during the three autumnal months of 1838 and 1839.
I have met with this most interesting bird amid fine scenery in the west of Scotland ; — in the deer-park at Inverary, and towards the head of the beautiful valley of Glenapp, Ayrshire. In the summer of 1826 I observed it in Switzerland and Italy; and in the celebrated Black Forest of Germany, it was particularly common, admitting there of a close approach without exhibiting any fear.
- Footnote 1 11th Anne, ch 7 and 17 ; Geo. II. ch. 10.
- Footnote 2 Communicated by that gentleman to Dr. Harvey of Cork.