THE RED KITE 201 



apparently in Scotland, where the vast solitudes of 

 the deer-forests (where birds of prey, one and all, 

 are welcomed) would appear eminently suited to 

 its welfare, far more so than the comparatively 

 dwarfed area in Wales which still gives its shelter. 

 The question is easily answered, since it is only of 

 fairly late years that gigantic expanses of moor, 

 formerly given over to Grouse, where carnivorous 

 birds are never encouraged, have been turned into 

 deer forests. Moreover, there will always be more 

 Grouse-preserving in Scotland than in Wales; 

 indeed, on the whole, Grouse are scarce in the 

 Principality, in some of the Kite's haunts not 

 existing at all, or at best in widely scattered pairs. 

 Did Wales possess extensive grouse-moors, or were 

 Kite-territory capable of much cultivation, Kite, 

 Buzzard, and Raven would long since have been but 

 a dream. It is possible, of course, that a Kite or 

 two may yet safely harbour in Scotland. If so, 

 the secret is well kept, and rightly so. 



The Kite is not really a hill-bird at all ; 

 on the contrary, it is a lover of wood and forest. 

 Yet its last refuges are in the " Ultima Thule " of 

 civilization, just where cultivation scrapes acquaint- 

 ance with the wilds, where man's work joins hands 

 with the savage grandeur of the Cymric uplands. 

 The Kite must now be wooed where those curving 

 streams of molten silver surge through mountain 

 valleys of matchless beauty, whose sides are 

 decked, now with well-thinned, hanging oak 



