168 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



young birds, mice, or fruit, as well as on 

 its ordinary diet of insects ; but it seems 

 not to be a scavenger and hunter after scraps, 

 like so many of the birds that live in towns, 

 and it does not build its nest on houses. 



What seems the strangest, however, to 

 any one used to this country, is to find large 

 birds living in towns, as nearly all big wild 

 birds are now scarce and shy in Britain, 

 especially birds of prey. Yet kites were once 

 so common in London that foreigners took 

 particular notice of them, and they are still 

 as familiar as sparrows in Indian towns. The 

 Indian kite is smaller and duller in colour than 

 the European red kite which used to be so 

 common here, but their habits are much the 

 same. 



Kites are most wonderful and beautiful 

 fliers, and you cannot look up in India without 

 seeing one or more wheeling and sailing over- 

 head, "waiting for things to die," as Mr. 

 Kipling says in the Jungle Book. But in 

 case there are not any creatures obliging 

 enough to die for his benefit, the kite has no 

 objection to killing them himself, if they are 

 small and weak and slow enough, for he is 



