178 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



be authentic. It is now a rare wanderer, chiefly to the 

 east of Great Britain. The Goshawk builds a nest of 

 sticks in a tree, or repairs any old nest of some other 

 bird. The four eggs are bluish gray, with or without a 

 few reddish markings. 



THE KITE 



(Milvus ictinus). 

 Plate 56. 



'Kites that swim sublime in still repeated circles, scream- 

 ing loud,"* are no longer, alas ! to be seen above the streets 

 of London, where a few centuries ago they were even more 

 abundant than in the cities of part of southern Europe at 

 the present time. Then their commonness excited the 

 remarks of foreign visitors to the Metropolis ; while now it 

 is true that few ' who see the paper toys hovering over 

 the parks in fine days of summer have any idea that the 

 bird from which they derive their name used to float all 

 day in the hot weather high overhead.' 



It is long since the Red Kite disappeared from London 

 and the south of England generally ; but till late in last 

 century it nested sparingly in the wooded Midlands of 

 England and the central Highlands of Scotland ; to Ireland 

 it seems never to have been more than a wanderer. Even 

 in these haunts it became extinct, and in 1895 the last 

 young brood of the century was reared near Shrewsbury. 

 Birds of the old stock still lived, however, and only needed 

 opportunities to hatch their eggs unmolested by collectors. 

 Therefore, in 1905, when efficient protection was procured 

 for them by a committee of ornithologists, two pairs success- 

 fully reared their young in the mountain-forests of South 

 Wales. From, it is believed, five birds in 1905, our 

 native stock has increased to well over twenty. With 



