Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/94

 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

Milvus regalis, Briss.

Falco milvus, Linn.

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 || 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.

f Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 151.

Recreations of Christopher North, vol. i. p. 90-91.

11th Anne, ch 7 and 17 ; Geo. II. ch. 10.