24 JUNGLE FOLK 



Writes Clare : 



" Of chick and duck and gosling gone astray, 

 All falling preys to the sweeping kite." 



King says : 



" The kite will to her carrion fly." 



The most captious critic could not take exception 

 to any of these sentiments. He might certainly pull 

 a long face at Macaulay's 



"The kites know well the long stern swell 

 That bids the Roman close." 



But he would find it exceedingly difficult to prove that 

 the kites do not know this. 



But let us leave the poets and return to the bird as it 

 is, for common though he be in the East, the " sailing 

 glead " is a bird that will repay a little study. His 

 powers of flight, his ability to soar high above the 

 earth, to sail through the thin air with outstretched 

 and apparently motionless wings, are equalled by few 

 birds. Watch him as he glides overhead in great 

 circles until he disappears from sight. He constantly 

 utters his tremulous, querulous scream — Chee-hee-hee- 

 hee-hee ; his head is bent so that his beak points down- 

 wards, and few things are there which escape his keen 

 eye. Suddenly he espies a rabble of crows squabbling 

 over a piece of meat. Quick as thought he is full on his 

 downward career. A second or two later the fighung, 

 squawking crows hear the swish of his wings — a sound 

 very famihar to them — and promptly make way for 

 him. None desires to feel the grip of his powerful 

 talons. He sweeps above the bone of contention, drops 



