Trapping a Red Kite 169 
I kept this bird in barracks for about three weeks after which 
she was released and I had the pleasure of seeing her, together 
with her mate, when riding past the pine woods some days later, 
still wearing the leather jesses I had put on her legs, but no doubt 
they very soon dropped off. 
This was in 1879; many years afterwards, in May, 1903, | 
took Admiral Farquhar to this nest and found it again occupied by 
a Red Kite. The old bird was sitting so close that she declined 
to move until my lead weight struck the tree close to her. We soon 
got a line up and ran one of our party up to the nest. This nest 
contained a young Kite about 2 weeks old and a second, a week 
old, besides one egg, a curious proof of the irregularity of laying 
of some birds. There were also the remains of an Ocellated Lizard 
about 18 in. in length. Those sportsmen, and alas! there are 
many, who advocate the killing of these Kites, Harriers and Eagles 
in Spain on the pitiful pretext that they are ‘so destructive to 
game’ would do well to consider the enormous amount of assistance 
they receive in the protection of game from these same birds. The 
havoc wrought by the vast number of big snakes and lizards in the 
Spanish Peninsula among both birds and the smaller mammals is 
well-nigh incredible. Both classes of reptiles not only devour 
both eggs and young birds but, when opportunity offers, the parent 
birds as well. In fact, the only thing which keeps the numbers of 
these most predaceous reptiles at all within bounds is the persistent 
preying on them by so many of the larger raptorial birds. Un- 
fortunately the misdeeds of the birds such, as taking a Partridge 
or a rabbit, are done in the light of day and are at times seen and 
animadverted upon, whereas the reptiles work quietly and unseen, 
often by night and always under cover. Hence the extent of their 
depredations is generally unappreciated. For one luckless rabbit 
pounced upon by an Eagle, scores of young ones are swallowed 
wholesale by the reptiles who exploit their burrows. Hence all 
