It 



K1GGELARIA KITE. 



perennials, but as such they are of no use in this 

 country, as they do best when raised every year from 

 seeds. The Haricots of the south of Europe, and 

 the Caracallas and Callavances of tropical countries, 

 all belong to this genus. 



KIGGELARIA (Linnaeus). A genus of orna- 

 mental trees, natives of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 belonging to the natural order Flacourtianea:. They 

 are treated as green-house plants, and propagated by 

 cuttings. 



KITE (Milvui). A genus of diurnal birds of 

 prey, not very numerous in species, but very gene- 

 rally distributed over the world, plentiful in those 

 places of the country which are favourable to its 

 habits, and resorting more frequently to the vicinity 

 of human abodes than most birds of prey, and there- 

 fore better known. In some countries, kites are ob- 

 jects of persecution, from the depredations which they 

 commit on the young of the poultry yard and the 

 duck pond ; while in other parts of the world they 

 are protected on account of the great number of offen- 

 sive small animals, of which they clear the neighbour- 

 hoods of houses. 



Kites form a very distinct section of diurnal preyers 

 both in their appearance and in their habits. Their 

 tarsi are slender, but at the same time short ; and, 

 therefore, though they exceed the sparrow-hawks in 

 size, they are not nearly so powerful with the foot, 

 neither are they so courageous. The bill also is 

 smaller and weaker in proportion to the size of the 

 birds, than in any of the hawks or eagles ; and alto- 

 gether they indicate a feebler power of action, and 

 smaller prey. At the same time, however, they are 

 very ravenous, as well as very miscellaneous feeders ; 

 and when a hungry kite meets with an abundant 

 meal, it feeds so eagerly that it may be knocked 

 down with a stick, or even seized with the hand, in 

 which respect it bears some resemblance to several of 

 the vultures. But notwithstanding its comparative 

 feebleness and its voracity, a kite is by no means an 

 unhandsome or uninteresting bird. On the contrary, 

 its motions in the air are solight and graceful, and its 

 style in hovering about is so easy, and performed with 

 apparently so little effort, that it is assumed as a sort 

 of typical motion. Kite-flying is a cant term for the 

 putting of light or doubtful things afloat in the world ; 

 and there is not a schoolboy who is not acquainted 

 with the paper imitation of this light and graceful 

 hoverer in the sky ; and though, in the case of the 

 paper kite, the string is the resistance which enables 

 the expansion of the kite to rise and ride obliquely in 

 the air, it is the weight of the living kite, balanced 

 against the ample expansion of its wings and tail, which 

 enables it to float, occasionally at least with little 

 more apparent muscular effort than its paper name- 

 sake. We shall best describe its manners, however, 

 in adverting briefly to the species. 



THE COMMON KITE (M. vulgaris) is the only 

 species which is found in the British islands, or indeed 

 in Europe. But, as is the case with most birds of 

 prey, the young are different from the mature birds in 

 the markings of their colour ; and, on this account, 

 they have sometimes been brought from foreign coun- 

 tries, and described as species inhabiting there. 



The kite is rather an extended bird. The female 

 measuring more than five feet in the extent of the 

 wings, and about half as much in the length of the 

 body and tail, the latter of which is very much forked, 

 and pointed in the branches of the fork, so that while 



beating about, the bird can wheel and turn on the 

 points of the forks as on centres. The exterior fea- 

 thers of the tail are upwards of a foot in length. The 

 wings are not so pointed as the tail, but they are 

 pretty strong in proportion to their other dimensions. 

 The third and fourth quills are the longest in the 

 wing, the fourth being a little longer than the third. 

 Of the others, the second is a little shorter than the 

 fifth, and the first much shorter than the sixth. This 

 arrangement of the feathers gives a balance to the 

 middle part of the wing, by making it, though 

 really a pointed wing, take a strong hold on the air, 

 by means of which it performs the double offices of 

 wheeling and floating much better than if it. had been 

 wholly adapted for either of them. The kite is a 

 light bird in proportion to its extent, being usually in 

 the female not much more than two pounds and a 

 half, while the male is smaller and less heavy. 



In the full grown bird, the head is dull white, 

 streaked with dusky lines ; and the feathers on the 

 neck are pointed, and capable of being partially 

 erected. The upper parts are brown in the centre of 

 the feathers, and reddish orange on the margins ; the 

 under parts are reddish orange, with stripes of dusky 

 brown on the thighs and belly. The female is not so 

 brown as the male bird, and there is often a tinge of 

 greyish ash in her general plumage. The young, 

 before arriving at maturity, is much redder, the male 

 bird especially, than the full grown ; and it is in this 

 state that it has been described as a different species ; 

 though there is often so much difference of tint in the 

 male and female when full grown, as to have pro- 

 cured for the one the name of the red kite, and for 

 the other that of the grey kite ; but they are the 

 same species notwithstanding this, and we have no 

 certain evidence that there is any specific difference 

 of kite in Europe ; and the same species with which 

 we are familiar in this country is found in man}' parts 

 of Asia and Africa. 



The kite is indeed a ranging bird, not only in its 

 ordinary feeding, but, as is generally understood, in 

 seasonal migration. In winter it is but rarely seen, 

 and seldom if ever in the neighbourhood of farm- 

 yards and houses ; for as it has not sufficient courage 

 for attacking full-grown fowls, it does not pay its 

 visits until the spring broods are hatched. All birds 

 of prey are comparatively little seen abroad over the 

 fields during the winter. The resident ones are then 

 chiefly in the fastnesses of the woods and wilds, which 

 are much more productive in the winter season than 

 the open grounds, both for the preyers and the animals 

 on which those preyers feed. On this account it is 

 often supposed that species quit the country during 

 the time when they live in concealment in it ; but 

 notwithstanding this, it is probable that, in some parts 

 of Europe at least, kites may migrate during the 

 winter, and resort to Egypt, which is then the general 

 retreat of very many birds. This opinion was main- 

 tained by the ancients, and the kite is enumerated 

 among those birds which appeared in numbers in 

 Greece during the spring ; and Greece is known to 

 be a great resting place for birds, both in their north- 

 ward and southward migrations. It is not understood 

 that the same constancy of attachment is found in the 

 kites which characterises, in so remarkable a manner, 

 those diurnal birds of prey which are known to be 

 permanent residents, and which form an interesting 

 feature in their character. Male kites, though not 

 the most warlike of birds, yet sometimes exhibit con- 



