' KITING' ON THE DOWNS 181 



hoisted in the ancient road known as the " Icledon 

 Way," and soared up clear of all danger from the 

 few scattered trees near ; and while it tugged and 

 pulled at the string, it certainly looked very like 

 some goblin falcon, as it swayed about and gazed 

 with horrible scrutiny from its one eye on the ground 

 beneath. The little tags in the tail danced and hovered 

 like small birds mobbing a hawk ; and a flock of 

 rooks in a neighbouring field flew off into the vale 

 in consternation at the invasion of so awful a fowl. 

 Most people, when the kite is once up, fancy that the 

 difficulties connected with its working are over. 

 Though we did not quite share this view, the country 

 before us was so easy, being a long and gradual ascent 

 of four hundred feet with no timber, and a flat hill-top 

 bare of trees beyond it, that we allowed the string to 

 pass into the hands of a volunteer, who was an excellent 

 farm bailiff, and rather jumped at the notion of working 

 the kite for a few hours. It was not long before we 

 discovered that the kite-flying part of his education had 

 been neglected in his youth. 



Before going up the hill we wished to try a large 

 stubble field, on which several coveys were feeding. 

 In the middle of this stood two large isolated elm 

 trees ; and we had not worked half the field before 

 we were horrified to see the kite string caught in 

 the largest and least " climbable " of the two. The 

 kite struggled, fluttered, and then descended gracefully, 

 casting the whole length of its tail across the topmost 

 branchlets of the elm. 



