THE COMMON KITE. 33 



doubt it has gained discredit for many of the evil deeds of the 

 Sparrow-hawk. In Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland, 

 i^orth Wales, and certain parts of Scotland, it is more 

 frequent. It builds its nest of sticks, lined with straw 

 and moss, in lofty trees, and lays three or four eggs. 



SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



NAUCLERUS FURCATUS. 



Plumage white, except the back, wings, and tail, which are lustrous purple black ; 

 beak bluish black ; cere lighter blue ; irides dark ; feet greenish blue ; claws 

 dull orange. Length twenty inches. 



Up to the year 1853, two specimens only of this fine bird 

 had been observed in England. In the April of that year 

 one was observed at Eskdale, Cumberland, in company 

 with Peregrine Falcons. A fortnight afterwards, its roosting 

 place was discovered by a bird-collector, who made several 

 ineffectual attempts to shoot it ; he then fixed his gun into 

 a wall, and thus covered the eyrie situated in a crevice of 

 a crag; returning at midnight, he discharged his gun, 

 and on the following morning found that his shot had 

 told ; the visitor, too wary to be surprised by open skill, 

 fell a victim to treachery, and all chance of its meeting 

 with a mate, and breeding in this country, was lost. It 

 is a native of the tropical and temperate regions of America, 

 where it feeds (always on the wing) on locusts, grass- 

 hoppers, small snakes, lizards, and frogs. These it either 

 picks up from the ground, snatches from the branches of 

 trees, or captures by hawking, but always devours without 

 alighting on the ground, its movements on which are 

 extremely awkward. These birds build their nests of 

 sticks in lofty trees, and line them with moss and feathers : 

 they lay from four to six eggs. 



