IN THE NEST HAUNT OF THE KITE 263 



steadily against the storm about four feet above sky- 

 line, making for the wood we had just left, but he 

 was soon lost to view on the opposite hill. We 

 now ascended a fearfully steep gully, wooded at the 

 top, where a pair of Fork-tails sometimes venture 

 to nest, but beyond a very ancient tenement, nothing 

 was forthcoming. Proceeding from the top of the 

 gully, along the ridge of the adjoining hill we 

 dropped into a big oak wood growing on its side, 

 each taking a different line, and I was fortunate 

 in the extreme, for, topping a rise in the wood 

 suddenly, a splendid Kite left an oak-tree some forty 

 yards distant. Catching her just in the right light, I 

 saw many details of her colouring. (I say "her," for, 

 judging from the almost white head, I think it was a 

 hen bird) : the red forked tail, bronzy brown upper 

 plumage with lighter edgings, and the very light- 

 coloured head. Sweeping out of the wood, she was 

 soon lost to view. In a thin but tall oak growing 

 hard by was a large nest, which I was very soon 

 inspecting. A Crow had originally built its nest in 

 the topmost fork, and upon this foundation the Kite 

 had made a fresh structure of sticks and twigs of 

 varying length and thickness, lined at present with 

 moss, wool, and tufts of scirpus grass. 



April ^th. — Messrs. Gwynne-Vaughan, Salter, Owen 

 and Forrest accompanied me to a spot where up to last 

 year the Kites attempted to breed regularly. The 

 weather was very bad. A pair of Buzzards had taken 

 possession of and were lining the Kite's ancient nest 

 which is in its way quite historical ; the Raven, 

 Buzzard, and Kite having used it in turn. It is built 



