IN THE NEST HAUNT OF THE KITE 265 



miles away. Fortunately he was in, and our hopes rose 

 when he informed us that a few days since he had seen 

 a Kite leave its nest in a spruce fir. Accordingly off 

 we started in high fettle, but on being shown the tree 

 in the distance our hopes sank to zero, for it was 

 growing by the side of a frequented road, the last place 

 in the world a Kite would choose to rear its young. 



On reaching the tree our carpenter friend pointed 

 triumphantly to a nest about two-thirds of the way up. 

 That thing the nest ! Why 'tis nothing but a squirrel's 

 " drey." The Kite was reported as having left it with 

 wool in its talons (!) I need hardly say that we turned 

 homewards downcast men. 



April ^tli. — At 3.45 a.m. Dr. Salter and myself rose 

 and started on a very long tramp. Salter was going 

 to walk most of the way back to Aberystwith. Just 

 after passing through a certain village I thought that 

 I saw a pair of Kites sailing over a distant wood, and 

 in this I was justified, for in a {qw minutes we both had 

 a fairly good view of one. It described a few small 

 circles over a field, at times hovering something like a 

 Kestrel, probably on the look-out for moles, and then, 

 gliding across the road, was quickly lost to view. 



This raised our hopes considerably, for hitherto we 

 had never dreamt of Kites frequenting this locality 

 for breeding purposes, though not far distant was a 

 likely looking hanging oak wood which might harbour 

 them. Later on we passed within measurable distance 

 of this very wood, but saw no more encouraging signs. 



Presently I left Salter in a valley many miles away, 

 and, cutting over the hills, visited the nest we found on 

 April 3rd. I saw nothing of the Kites themselves but 



