KITE 



GLEAD PUTTOCK FORK-TAILED KITE. 



PLATE X. 



Mil-vus regalis, BRISSON. 



Milvus ictinus t ...... SAVIGNY. 



THE nest of the Kite, which is now of extreme rarity in 

 Great Britain, is built " yearly in the spring," for the 

 most part in the covert of a thick wood, and is usually 

 placed between the forked branches of some tall tree, but 

 rather in the middle than towards the top. Occasionally also 

 it is located on some rocky precipice. It is composed of 

 sticks, and is lined with any soft material, such as straw, 

 hair, grass, wool, feathers, old rags, or paper, and is, in 

 fact, an omnium gatherum. In former times, when the 

 Kite was plentiful in England, rags were generally to be 

 found amongst the materials, as may be surmised from the 

 speech of Autolycus in " The Winter's Tale " " When the 

 kite builds, look to the lesser linen " (Act iv., Scene 2). 

 In shape if the word may be applied to that which is almost 

 shapeless it is rather flat, though more closely compacted 

 than that of some other birds of the family. 



The eggs, which are two or three in number, rarely four, 

 rather large, and somewhat more than ordinarily round, very 

 much resemble, in some instances, those of the Common 

 Buzzard. The ground colour is a dull bluish, or greenish 



