36 BIRDS OF PREY. 



Sub-Family V. 



THE KITES. MILVIN.E. 



General Characteristics.— Bill short, weak, with the tip hooked and acute, and 

 the lateral margins sinuated ; nostrils basal and lateral, with the opening mostly in 

 the form of an oblique slit ; wings long and pointed ; tarsi hardly longer than the 

 hind toe, and robust ; toes moderate, broad, and padded beneath. 



The shortness of their legs and the feebleness of their talon.s, 

 conjoined with a beak equally disproportioned to their size, causes 

 the kites to be the most cowardly of the Falcon race ; while, on the 

 other hand, the excessive length of their wings and their forked 

 tail enable them to fly with wonderful ease and elegance. These 

 birds, indeed, appear to support themselves in the air without the 

 least exertion. They glide smoothly along, rising, descending, and 

 wheeling round in graceful circles, Avithout any movement of their 

 wings, but simply by the guidance of their rudder-like tail. It is 

 from this beautiful gliding motion that they seem to have received 

 from our Saxon ancestors the name of Gled or dead. 



The kites are met with in various parts of the world ; in hot 

 climates, more especially, they may be seen in great numbers 

 watching from some lofty tree for whatever may present itself in 

 the way of food, or sometimes soaring to a great height in the 

 air. Nevertheless, they seize their prey upon the ground. They 

 live chiefly upon young hares, rats, birds, and lizards, but are by 

 no means averse to carrion. Their nest is built in a fork of some 

 large tree, and is made of sticks, lined with various soft materials. 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Common Kite {Mihnis regalis), although now become scarce in 

 England, is still seen occasionally in the lake districts of Cumberland and in 

 the south-eastern parts of Scotland. On the continent of Europe it is not 

 uncommon, its range extending eastward into Siberia. In the more northern 

 regions it is only a summer resident, migrating southward in the autumn. The 

 kite is a bird of considerable size, measuring from twenty-five to twenty-seven 

 inches in length, including the long forked tail with which it is furnished. It 

 has been usual to divide the rapacious birds into two great sections, one com- 

 prising the noble races, or such as feed exclusively on prey killed by them- 

 selves, and the other the ignoble species, whose appetite, not so fastidious, 

 permits them to feast upon carrion. The kites must certainly be placed in 

 the latter category, feeding as they do not only upon dead animals, but even 

 upon the vilest garbage. Indeed, there was a time when these birds appear to 

 have rendered the same service in the thoroughfares of London as the vultures 

 do at the present day in some of the crowded cities of the East. We read that 

 not longer ago than the reign of Henry VIII. our metropolis swarmed with 



