CHAPTER XIII. 



THE ONCE-COMMON RED KITE. 



IN reviewing the list of British breeding birds the 

 naturalist sighs for the day when many a now- 

 extinct species graced our shores in goodly num- 

 bers. Ruefully he deplores, as nesters, the absence 

 of Bustard, Crane, Black Tern, and Avocet, and 

 the almost-extirpation of many others, notably the 

 majority of the larger birds of prey. Amongst 

 these the Kite* ranks high ; and the circumstances 

 of its banishment are peculiarly sad, since, from 

 being in medieval ages one of our commonest 

 birds of prey, even a scavenger in the very streets 

 of London, and an object of comment amongst 

 foreigners owing to its confiding habits, it must 

 now be numbered in the first six of our rarest 

 regular British breeding species. - 



Fine fellow though he be, the Kite may hardly 

 be termed "royal" (as one of its Latin names, 

 regalis, implies) from any intrinsic merit. Is he 

 not bully, coward, and thief rolled into one? 

 Surely he is " royal," simply because in byegone 

 eras he was the sport of kings and princes, who 

 were wont with their " hooded " falcons to harry 

 the Kite. These flights Peregrine versus Kite 



* Milvua milvus (L.) 





