TJie Kite. 



203 



THE KITE. (Fako Milvus, or Milvus regalis.) 



THIS bird, though it belongs to the falcon tribe, is called 

 ignoble, because it is never used in hawking. It is 

 easily distinguished from other birds of prey by its 

 forked tail, and the slow and circular eddies it describes 

 in the air whenever it spies from the regions of the 

 clouds a young duck or a chicken which has strayed too 

 far from the brood. When this is the case, the Kite, 

 pouncing on it with the rapidity of a dart, seizes it in 

 its talons, and carries it off to its nest. It is, however, 

 a great coward, and if the hen flies at it, which she 

 always does if she sees it, it will drop the chicken and 

 fly off. It is larger than the common buzzard ; and 

 though it weighs somewhat less than three pounds, the 

 extent of its wings is more than five feet. The head 

 and neck are of a pale ash colour, varied with longi- 

 tudinal lines across the shafts of the feathers ; the back 

 is reddish ; the lesser rows of the wing feathers are 

 party-coloured, of black, red, and white ; the feathers 



