BIRDS. 



519 



speck in the blue ether and disappears. All its actions, in wantonness or 

 in the severity of the chase, display the dash of the athletic bird, which, 

 if lacking the brute strength and the brutal ferocity of some, becomes their 

 peer in prowess — like the trained gymnast, whose tight-strung thews, 

 supple joints, and swelling muscles, under marvellous control, enable him 

 to execute feats that to the more massive or not so well conditioned frame 

 would be impossible." 





Fig. 429.— Mississippi kite (Ictinia subcxrulea), left; and swallow-tailed kite [Elanoidesforficatus), right. 



In India is a kite which is a feature of every landscape. It is the 

 omnipresent pariah kite. As a scavenger it does good service, but its 

 ubiquity and its boldness make it something of a nuisance. It robs 

 the people of the food which, in the fashion of the country, they may be 

 carrying home from the market on the head ; it will even attempt to 

 seize a morsel from the hand of man, and whether successful or not will 

 be far away before the victim has begun to recover from his surprise. It 

 also takes fishes and frogs, reptiles of all sorts, and small birds and mam- 

 mals when occasion offers. 



