202 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



now, alas ! one of the rarest and most local of our indi- 

 genous birds. Twenty-two years ago the last nest was 

 known in Lincolnshire. It still breeds here and there 

 in Wales, and also in a few localities in Scotland which 

 need not be named. The Kite is only an abnormal 

 wanderer to Ireland. 



Breeding habits : There can be little doubt that 

 the Kites breeding in our islands are residents. The 

 breeding-haunts of this interesting species are woods 

 and forests ; in Scotland the wild secluded pine forests 

 are the special favourite. It is not a social bird, and 

 even keeps closest company with its mate during the 

 breeding season. The nest of the Kite is invariably 

 made in a tree in our islands, but in North Africa a 

 ledge on a rock is sometimes chosen. By preference a 

 dense fir or pine tree is selected, and the nest is built at 

 varying heights from the ground, sometimes as much as 

 forty feet, sometimes only fifteen or twenty feet. It is 

 built either among the more slender topmost branches, 

 or, and more generally, on several branches lower down 

 the stem and close to the trunk. Externally it is made 

 of sticks, branches, and an assorted mixture of rubbish, 

 such as old rags and dirty paper, and lined with moss, 

 wool, and a further selection of odd scraps, including 

 bones, hair, paper, worsted, and rags of all kinds. It is 

 somewhat flat inside, and generally a bulky structure. 

 When disturbed from the nest, which it leaves somewhat 

 reluctantly, the sitting bird often soars high in air above 

 the tree, soon being joined by its mate. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Kite are usually three in number, some- 

 times but two, and very rarely four. They are very 

 pale bluish-green, or grayish-white in ground colour, 

 clouded, blotched, spotted, streaked, and freckled with 

 dark reddish-brown and paler brown, and with under- 



