IN THE NEST HAUNT OF THE KITE 261 



Once quite a confiding bird, the few Kites left 

 (except at the nest) have become the shyest of the 

 shy, and this is the reason, I think, that the Httle 

 " colony " under notice has existed so long. But to 

 turn to the present year. 



The first Kite I saw this year was on January 28th, 

 whilst taking a ramble along a certain range of hills. 

 He flew over me about a hundred yards up, going 

 quicker than is usual with this species, making for a 

 haunt in which a pair tried to breed regularly until 

 last year. This quick flight is, I think, only adopted 

 when some distance from their usual habitat. 



March 14th. — -Captain Lindsay Phillips and myself 

 took a thirty-mile walk, going through the heart of 

 Kite country ; but we only saw one the whole day, 

 and that but a fleeting glimpse as it glided along a 

 wooded hillside, where up to about 1893 they nested 

 regularly. We were at one time during the day at a 

 regular nest haunt of this species, but no Kite was 

 to be seen. This all points to the probability of this 

 bird not frequenting the breeding district during the 

 winter and early spring. Certain it is that it is a great 

 wanderer, going miles in its hunting excursions. 



On March 27th I was again in the Kite's haunt, and 

 in the morning examined last year's nest in an oak 

 v/ood where they try and rear a brood annually. It 

 was in a moderate-sized oak, some twenty-five feet up 

 in the first good fork, and was a big concern of sticks 

 lined with mats of wool. Any rag or paper which 

 may have been there in egg-time had rotted during 

 the winter. Coming back by this same wood in the 

 afternoon I had a fine view of a Kite being mobbed 



