FALCONID.E. 47 



support themselves in tlie air without the least 

 exertion. They glide smoothly along, rising, de- 

 scending, and wheeling round in graceful circles, 

 without any movement of their wings, but simply 

 by the guidance of their rudder-like tail. It is from 

 this beautiful gliding motion that they seem to have 

 received, from our Saxon ancestors, the name of 

 'Ghd or Gleacl. 



The Kites are met with in various parts of the 

 world ; in hot climates, more especially, they may 

 be seen in great numbers watching from some lofty 

 tree for whatever may present itself in the way of 

 food, or they sometimes soar to a great height in the 

 air. Nevertheless they seize their prey upon the 

 ground. They live chiefly upon young hares, rats, 

 birds, and lizards, but are by no means averse to 

 carrion. Their nest is built in a fork of some large 

 tree, and is made of sticks, lined with various soft 

 materials. 



The t}^3e of this sub-f\imily, — 



The Common Kite (Milvus regalis), although now be- 

 come scarce in England, is still seen occasionally in the 

 Lake districts of Cumberland, and in tlie south-eastern 

 parts of Scotland. On the Continent of Europe it is not 

 uncommon, its range extendmg eastward mto Siberia. 

 In the more northern regions it is only a summer resi- 

 dent, migrating southward in the autumn. The Kite is 

 a bird of considerable size, measuring fi.-om twenty-five to 

 twenty-seven inches in length, including the long forked 

 tail with which it is furnished. It has been usual to 

 divide the rapacious birds into two gxeat sections, one 

 comprismg the noble races, or such as feed exclusively on 

 l)rey killed by themselves, and the other the ignoble spe- 

 cies, whose appetite, not so fastidious, permits them to 

 feast upon carrion. The Kites must certainly be placed 

 in the latter category, feedmg as they do not only upon 

 dead animals, but even upon the vilest garbage. Indeed, 

 there was a time when these birds appear to have ren- 

 dered the same service in the thoroughfares of London as 

 the Vultures do at the present day in some of the crowded 

 cities of the East. We read that not longer ago than the 



