. perpetually on the 



wing ; and appears to repose on the boso 

 of the air without making the least effort t 

 support itself, so easy and elegant is its 



motion there. It is, however, intent on its 

 prey beneath ; and as the yourg chicken, 

 ducks, goslings, &c. suffer by the Kite's de- 

 predations, it is proscribed by the universal 

 voice of every rural district. Were it not 

 for this, its appearance would be welcomed 

 as the harbinger of clear skies and fine 

 weather ; for it is in such that it makes its 

 principal excursions. It breeds in large 

 forests, or wooded hilly countries >, and lays 

 two or three eggs, of a whitish colour, spotted 

 with pale yellow, and of a roundish form. In 

 the breeding season it will at times approach 

 near the outskirts of villages, seeking ma- 

 terials for its nest ; but in general it avoids 

 the haunts of man. The nest is usually in 

 the fork of a thick tree, where it is concealed 

 by the branches : the external part is formed 

 of twigs, thickly matted together ; and the 

 interior is lined with wool, or some other 

 soft and warm substance. The young re- 

 main a long time in the nest, and are ex- 

 tremely voracious in their appetite ; so that 

 to provide them with food requires consider- 

 able labour, and greatly heightens the parent 

 bird's audacity. 



There was a time when the Kite appears 

 to have been of as much service in London, 

 as the Vulture still is in some of the crowded 

 cities of the East ; for we read that in the 

 reign of Henry VIII. the British metropolis 

 swarmed with Kites, attracted thither by 

 the various kinds of offal thrown into the 

 streets, and that these birds fearlessly de- 

 scended, and fearlessly performed the sca- 

 venger's office in the midst of the people, it 

 being forbidden to kill them. When such 

 a fact as this is brought before our eyes, the 

 " street nuisances " of the present day appear 

 like a comparative luxury ; and we are apt 

 to think that " metropolitan improvements " 

 must have since gone on at such a rate that 

 there can no longer be any room for them. 



The MISSISSIPPI KITE. (Elanus Mis- 

 >(.s-/.s.) 'ihe celebrated American 

 ornithologist, Wilson, thus introduces this 

 species : " In my perambulations I fre- 

 quently remarked this hawk sailing about 

 in easy circles, and at a considerable height 

 in the air, generally in company with the 

 turkey buzzards, whose manner of flight it 

 so exactly imitates as to seem the same 

 species, only in minature, or seen at a more 

 immense height. Why these two birds, 

 whose food and manners, in other respects, 

 are so different, should so frequently asso- 

 ciate together in air, I am at a loss to com- 

 prehend. We cannot for a moment suppose 

 them mutually deceived by the similarity 

 of each other's flight : the keenness of their 

 vision forbids all suspicion of this kind. 

 They may perhaps be engaged, at such times, 

 in mere amusement, as they are observed 

 to soar to great heights previous to a storm ; 

 or, what is more probable, they may both be 

 in pursuit of their respective food. One, 

 that he may reconnoitre a vast extent of 

 surface below, and trace the tainted at- 

 mosphere to his favourite carrion ; the other, 

 in search of those large beetles, or coleop- 

 terous insects, that are known often to wing 

 the higher regions of the air ; and which, in 

 the three individuals of this species of hawk 

 which I examined by dissection, were the 

 only substances found in their stomachs. 

 For several miles, as I passed near Bayo 

 Manchak, the trees were swarming with a 

 kind of cicada, or locust, that made a deaf- 

 ening noise ; and here I observed numbers 

 of the hawk now before us sweeping about 

 among the trees like swallows, evidently 

 'n pursuit of these locusts ; so that insects, 

 t would appear, are the principal food of 

 this species. Yet when we contemplate the 

 beak and talons of this bird, both so sharp and 

 powerful, it is difficult to believe that they 

 were not intended by nature for some more 

 formidable prey than beetles, locusts, or 

 grasshoppers ; and I doubt not but mice, 

 lizards, snakes, and small birds, furnish him 

 with an occasional repast. 



This hawk, which proved to be a male, 

 though wounded and precipitated from a 

 vast height, exhibited, in his distress, symp- 

 ;oms of great strength, and an almost un- 

 conquerable spirit. I no sooner approached 

 to pick him up than he instantly gave battle, 

 striking rapidly with his claws, wheeling 

 round and round as he lay partly on his 

 rump ; and defending himself with great 

 vigilance and dexterity ; while his dark red 

 eye sparkled with rage. Nowithstanding 

 1 my caution in seizing him to carry him 

 home, he struck his hind claw into my hand 

 with such force as to penetrate into the 

 >one. The Mississippi Kite measures fourteen 

 nches in length, and three feet in extent. 

 The head and neck of a hoary white ; the 

 ower parts a whitish ash ; bill, cere, lores, 

 and narrow line round the eye, black ; back, 

 rump, scapulars, and wing-coverts, dark 

 (lackish ash ; wings very long and pointed ; 

 he primaries are black, marked down each 

 ide of the shaft with reddish sorrel : all the 

 upper plumage at the roots is white ; the 

 capulars are also spotted with white ; tail 



