BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 181 



Although lacking in qualities necessary for the sport of 

 hawking, the wild Kite was esteemed as a quarry before 

 all birds. Its great powers of soaring enabled it to keep 

 above the Falcon, thus giving no opportunity for the 

 fatal ' stoop.' Only the finest, best-conditioned, and most 

 skilfully-trained birds could hope to overmatch the Kite 

 in its cloudward race and bear it to earth, and few but 

 the Sovereign possessed such birds. Thus the quany 

 became known as the ' Royal Kite.'' 



' When the Kite builds, look to lesser linen,"' for it, like 

 Shakespeare''s character who utters this warning, is ' a snapper- 

 up of unconsidered trifles.** Newspapers, rags, and all sorts 

 of odds and ends go to the making of the untidy structure 

 which serves as a nest. Sticks form the more substantial 

 framework, and the whole is almost always situated in a 

 tree, although a crag-site has been recorded. In April 

 or May the eggs are laid, two or three in number. They 

 have irregular brownish blotches and other markings on a 

 ground which is dull white or sometimes very pale blue. 

 The nestlings are of the usual type prevailing in the 

 Order. 



The popular name ' Gled "" or ' Glead,' formerly widely 

 used for this species, refers to the gliding flight. 



THE HONEY=BUZZARD 



(Pernis apivorus). 



The Honey-Buzzard is another bird that has been 

 practically exterminated as a British-breeding species. It 

 still occurs in fair numbers on migration in some parts 

 of our islands. In Ireland it is only a rare wanderer to 

 the eastern counties, and was probably never anything more. 

 But at one time it nested pretty generally over the wooded 



