269
ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF A SPECIMEN OF
THE AMERICAN SWALLOW-TAILED KITE
(ELANOIDES FORFICATUS L) RECENTLY
ADDED TO THE ESSEX MUSEUM, STRATFORD.
By WILLIAM E. GLEGG, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
(With One Plate.)
[Read 27th November, 1926.]
IN "A Catalogue of the Second Portion of the Unique
Collection of British Birds formed by the late Sir
Vauncey Harpur Crewe, Bart," appeared the item, "184. Swal-
low-tailed Kite, shot in Essex about 1860 by Mr. Travers."
This collection was sold at Stevens's Rooms on February 23rd,
1926. Through the kindness of Messrs. Stevens I was able to
communicate with Mr. E. T. Clarke, Suffolk Street, Bath Road,
Cheltenham, who had purchased the specimen and who, in a
letter, dated March nth, 1926, writes: "In reply to you, the
bird is the Swallow-tailed Kite, and not the Red. I cannot
say anything about data. I should say from the mounting
at the base of the tree that it was at some time in a case. The
thing that may interest you is that about that time my grand-
father had one alive here caught on Clear Hill. The bird was
sold to Morris Montague, of Birmingham. Most likely these
birds came over together."
Whatever views may be held regarding the claims of this
specimen to be included in the list of Essex Birds, it is very
satisfactory that it should find a permanent home in the Essex
Museum at Stratford. It is advisable to consider the status
of this species from the British point of view before dealing
with it from the County aspect. Both Macgillivray and Yarrell
included the Swallow-tailed Kite in their well-known works
on the birds of the British Isles. The former refers to two speci-
mens, one said to have been killed in Argyllshire in 1772 and
another caught in Yorkshire in 1805. The latter refers to
these occurrences and adds that three further instances of the
supposed occurrence of this Kite are recorded in the Zoologist,
while a fourth was said to have been shot on the Mersey, in
June, 1843. The Mersey specimen, it is said, was formerly