»S^ KIT E. Class IL 



the Sa^cn Glida. Lord Bacon obfervcs, that when 

 kites fly high, it portends fair and dry weather- 

 Some have fuppofed thefe to be birds of paflage; 

 but in England they certainly continue the whole 

 year. Clufms relates * that when he was in London^ 

 he obferved a mod amazing number of kites that 

 flocked there for the fake of the offals, &c. which 

 were flung in the fl:reets. They were fo tame as to 

 take their prey in the midfl: of the greateft crowds ; 

 and it was forbidden to kill them. 



The tail of this kind is fufEcient to diftinguilli it 

 from all other Britijh birds of prey, being forked. 

 Tliny thinks that the invention of the rudder arofe 

 from the obfervation men made of the various mo- 

 tions of that part, when the kite was fl:eering 

 through the airf. Certain it is that the moft 

 ufeful arts were originally copied from ani- 

 mals ; however we may now have improved up- 

 on them. Still in thofe nations which are in a 

 fl-ate of nature, (fuch as the Samoieds and Efqui- 

 mam) their dwellings are inferior to thofe of the 

 beavers, which thofe fcarcely human beings but 

 poorly copy. 

 Descrip. The weight of this fpecies is forty-four ounces: 

 the length twenty-feven : the breadth ^w^ feet one 

 inch. The bill is two inches long, and very much 



• Belon oh/, ad finem Clus. exot. io8. 



t Iidem videntur artem gubernandi docuifTe caudae flexibus. 

 Lib. X. c, lo. 



ia 



