The Kite 
and even of the Thames, and where, 
together with the raven, it was protected 
by law as a useful scavenger without pay. 
The frequency of Shakespeare’s allusions 
to this bird is good evidence of how 
familiar it must then have been. It is 
always referred to in some disparaging 
way. The “hungry kite” did not scruple 
to carry off any living creature it could 
overcome even from the very farm-yard. 
When Warwick mentions to the Queen 
his suspicions of foul play in Duke 
Humphrey’s death, he tells her : 
Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest 
But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak ? 
Even so suspicious is this tragedy.+ 
In an earlier part of the same Play York 
asks : 
Were’t not all one, an empty eagle were set 
To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, 
As place Duke Humphrey for the King’s protector? 
12 Henry VI, 1.ii. 191. Chaucer refers to “‘ the coward 
Kyte.” 
43 
