K I T E. 



siderable symptoms of pugnacity during the early 

 part of the pairing season. Their strifes have not the 

 dashiiiLT style about them of those of the gallinaceous 

 birds, nor oven of the ruff, but still they do contrive 

 to pull and scratch at each other ; and as this is cer- 

 tainly not done in order that the victor may eat the 

 vanquished, we can assign no natural cause for those 

 battles except that they are affairs of honour con- 

 nected with the females ; and as it rarely happens 

 that there is any battling of this kind between animals 

 which are constant in their pairing, the most rational 

 conjecture is, that the pairing 1 of the kite continues 

 for only one brood. 



Considerable labour is bestowed in forming the 

 nest, and no little "of instinctiveness in the placing of 

 it. It is usually in the fork of a thick tree, where it 

 is concealed by the natural branches ; and it is more 

 elaborate than the nests of birds of prey generally. 

 The external part is formed of twigs, thickly wattled 

 together, and the interior is lined with wool, hair, or 

 other soft and warm matter. The eggs are generally 

 three in number, fully larger than those of the do- 

 mestic hen ; they have sometimes a few dark blotches 

 near the thick end, but at other times they are all over 

 of a dull white colour. The young remain a long time 

 in the nest, and as they feed greedily, the old birds, 

 more especially the female, have severe labour in 

 finding food for them; and it is during this time that 

 they invade the farm-yards with the greatest audacity, 

 though even then they do not venture to attack a bird 

 capable of showing any resistance. 



The kite, though its motions in the air are free 

 and graceful, is not in the habit of preying there, 

 even for any sort of creature. It feeds on the ground, 

 or sometimes even on the surface of the water, from 

 which it can twitch up a floating animal substance 

 with great dexterity. It is on the young of the 

 most timid animals that the kite chiefly feeds, the 

 young of all descriptions of game birds, and also the 

 young of hares and rabbits, and on larnbs in the very 

 early state, more especially if they are sickly. Mice, 

 insects, worms, and snails, it attacks and destroys in 

 vast numbers ; and no kind of carrion comes amiss 

 to it. This last property recommends it to the pro- 

 tection of the inhabitants of those towns which are in 

 warm countries, where putrefaction comes on rapidly. 

 In Turkey, and also in some parts of Egypt, it enjoys 

 a sort of domestic life in this way. The birds are 

 numerous, hovering about, or resting on the houses, 

 and they are instructed so that they answer to a 

 whistle, which is the signal for them to descend and 

 clear the ground. Kites are seldom seen in or over 

 towns in any part of Britain at the present day, but 

 the case was different formerly, when less attention 

 was paid to cleanliness. Not longer ago than the 

 time of Henry VIII. numerous kites supplied the 

 trade of scavengers in London ; which trade was 

 found a nourishing one for them, and a necessary one 

 for the people. Indeed, in all countries where clean- 

 liness is neglected in towns there is a necessity for 

 scavenger birds, and for kites among the rest, which 

 ceases when there is a better system of management ; 

 and in those towns of the east and south which are 

 still subject to infectious diseases, there is no doubt 

 that those diseases arc rendered less frequent than 

 they would be by the labour of those birds ; and the 

 rapid motion, the quick eye, and the ravenous appe- 

 tite of the kite, conspire to render it one of the most 

 serviceable of the whole. 



But it is in the free air where it has scope, and its 

 necessities require the complete exercise of its powers, 

 that the kite appears to the greatest advantage ; and 

 therefore we shall quote a short description of it from 

 Mudie's " Feathered Tribes of the British Islands." 

 "The kite," says Mr.Mudie, " has, from the extent of its 

 ' wings and tail, very great command of the atmosphere 

 i and possession of itself in that element. It does not 

 beat along in straight lines, but wheels in curves, 

 which it is constantly opening and closing.and always 

 i in a smooth and graceful manner, without any jerks ; 

 and if it were possible to trace a day's path of a kite, 

 it would be a very fine specimen of looped curves. 

 The kite can hover a long time over the same spot, 

 with very little exertion of the wings, and though 

 there is a fresh breeze ; and there are times (probably 

 when it has lost sight of some prize on the ground, or 

 discovered that the prize over which it was hovering 

 was no prize at all) at which it will 'give itself to 

 the wind,' and drift to leeward in very beautiful style, 

 and apparently with complete self-possession. Crows 

 often do the same, especially upon the elevated moors, 

 where prey is but scanty, and they have been long 

 contending with the wind. Kites will also sometimes 

 turn down the wind to escape the more powerful 

 falcons, which, though they do not attack the kite, 

 often frighten it, and make it lose its prey ; and as 

 going down the wind is not a habit of the falcons, 

 the kite gets away from them by the manoeuvre. 

 That manoeuvre, though held in great contempt by 

 the falcon, is by no means an ungraceful or uninter- 

 esting one: the bird rides lightly on the wind, but 

 retains its self-command, so that it can take a new 

 direction whenever it pleases. The axis of its body 

 is placed at an angle to the wind, which is smaller in 

 proportion as that is stronger j and the windward 

 wing is elevated, so that the wind takes the under at 

 an angle, and tends to raise the bird obliquely up- 

 ward while its weight presses downward and coun- 

 teracts. When looked at, the bird always has, in 

 these cases, the appearance of descending as it drifts. 

 But that is an optical deception, for all things that 

 are higher than the eye appear to descend as they 

 recede, even though they are rising ; and the kite 

 may often be observed to have gained height, while 

 thus appearing to float downwards. If on those 

 occasions an alarm is given, the bird hauls closer to 

 the wind and makes off." 



The kite, from its peculiar appearance, and even 

 from its predatory habits, is a bird which has attracted 

 very general attention, and in consequence received 

 no inconsiderable number of provincial names. One 

 of the most common of these, and also one of the 

 most descriptive of the general air of the bird, is the 

 "glead," differently pronounced in different parts of 

 the country ; but always having the same name, being 

 formed from the active participle of the verb to glide 

 or slide along smoothly. But in many districts a 

 qualifying epithet is thrown in ; and it is styled the 

 " greedy glead," the adjective being as expressive of 

 its general appetite as the substantive is of its air and 

 manner when floating on the wing. 



SWALLO-W-TAILED KITE (M. fiiTcatus). This is 

 an American species, and has been sometimes de- 

 scribed as a hawk, and sometimes as a kite. It is 

 chiefly insectivorous ; and its gliding habit and power 

 of turning are certainly more rapid, though not so 

 soft as those of the common kite of Europe ; unlike 

 that bird, however, it feeds on the wing, seizing in its 



