COMMON KITE. Qgj 



Bristol, the kite is one of the rarest birds. " We see 

 it,'' he says, " occasionally in its progress to other parts, 

 sailing" along sedately on its way ; but it never visits 

 us. Our copses present it with no enticing harbourage, 

 and our culture scares it. In former years I was inti- 

 mately acquainted with this bird ; but its numbers seem 

 greatly on the decline, having been destroyed, or driven 

 away to lonely places, or to the most extensive wood- 

 lands. In the breeding season it will at times approach 

 near the outskirts of villages, seeking materials for its 

 nest ; but in general it avoids the haunts of man. It is 

 the finest native bird that we possess, and all its de- 

 portment partakes of a dignity peculiar to itself, well 

 becoming a denizen of the forest or the park ; for 

 though we see it sometimes in company with the buz- 

 zard, it is never to be mistaken for this clumsy bird, 

 which will escape from the limb of some tree, with a 

 confused and hurried flight, indicative of fear ; while 

 the kite moves steadily from the summit of the loftiest 

 oak, the scathed crest of the highest poplar, or the most 

 el€fvated ash, circles round and round, sedate and calm, 

 and then leaves us. I can confusedly remember a very 

 extraordinary capture of these birds when I was a boy. 

 Roosting one winter evening on some very lofty elms, 

 a fog came on during the night, which froze early in 

 the morning, and fastened the feet of the poor kites so 

 firmly to the boughs, that some adventurous youths 

 brought down, I think, fifteen of them so secured ! 

 Singular as the capture was, the assemblage of so large 

 a number was not less so, it being in general a solitary 

 bird, or associating only in pairs." 



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