150 KITES. 



turns, spiry circles, and various efforts to escape, it was 

 just on the point of falling into the claws of its pursuer 

 when the fishermen gave a loud shout by way of frigh- 

 tening the Hawk, on which the little bird flew down for 

 protection and perched, quite exhausted, in the midst of 

 them. It proved to be a fine Lark. The Hawk ap- 

 proached within a few yards of the boat, and after 

 hovering about for a short time, turned his course 

 towards the shore. 



The Glead or Kite was a well-known bird, and much 

 oftener seen in former days, even in towns, as we have 

 shown, than at present ; but for some reason or other 

 they are getting every year more scarce. Still they may 

 now and then be observed soaring in wide circles over 

 woods, easily distinguished from other birds by their 

 length of wing and forked tails. There is a very curious 

 story told by a gentleman, of a strange manner in which 

 not less than fifteen were caught at the same time : he 

 says he remembers when a boy, that several of them 

 happened to be roosting on some lofty elm-trees in 

 winter, when a fog came on which, freezing as it fell, 

 completely glued their feet to the boughs; and they 

 were all taken. The truth of this extraordinary anec- 

 dote has been often questioned by naturalists, who main- 

 tain that there is a sufficiency of internal warmth in a 

 bird's foot, to thaw any moisture which might produce 

 the effect above mentioned ; but when we consider the 

 pOAver of sudden frosts, and the comparatively small cir- 

 culation of blood in a bird's claw, we see no reason to doubt 

 the fact, which is in a great degree confirmed by some 

 other instances of the effect of frost, of an equal if not 

 more extraordinary nature. Thus, a writer who kept a 

 journal in 1658, in speaking of the winter of that year, 

 alludes to it as the severest ever known in England, and, 

 amongst other things, adds, that Crows were taken with 

 their feet frozen to their prey*. In Scotland, also, 

 during a severe frost, a Heron was found struggling on 

 the ice ; it seems the foot on which it had been standing, 

 * EVELYN'S Memoirs. 



