THE COMMON KITE. BIRDS. THE BLACK-WINGED KITE. 



259 ! 



uncommon, and extends eastward into Siberia; in the 

 more northern regions, it is a summer resident, migrat- 

 ing southwards in the autumn. 



The Kite measures from twenty-five to twenty-seven 

 inches in length, including the long forked tail with 

 which it is furnished. The general colour of the 

 plumage of its back is reddish-brown, the feathers 

 being dark brown with broad reddish edges ; the head 

 and neck are greyish, and the whole lower surface 

 reddish-brown, as are also the tail feathers. The wing 

 primaries are black. The beak is horn colour, the cere 

 and feet are yellow, and the claws black. The wings 

 of the Kite are very long, and of immense extent as 

 compared with its body, and from this circumstance 

 and the great power of the tail, the flight of the bird 

 is singularly graceful and easy. The extended wings 

 seem to have the power of supporting their owner in 

 the air almost without the least exertion : it glides 

 smoothly along without effort, now rising gently, now 

 descending, to use the words of Buffon, " as if sliding 

 upon an inclined plane," now wheeling round in 

 graceful circles, and all with scarcely a perceptible 

 movement of the wings, but simply by the action of 

 the rudder-like tail. From this beautiful gliding 

 motion no doubt, the Kite has in some districts received 

 the name of the Gled or Glead, which has probably 

 survived from the days of our Saxon ancestors. During 

 his graceful evolutions, however, the Kite has usually 

 his eyes steadily fixed upon the ground beneath him, 

 with which he seems to have so little to do ; and the 

 moment his prey makes its appearance in the shape of 

 a mole, a mouse, a young rabbit or leveret, or any 

 other small terrestrial animal, the long wings are closed 

 in an instant, and the Kite descends with astonishing 

 velocity upon his devoted quarry. Lizards, frogs, and 

 snakes constitute a portion of the food of the Kite, and 

 he has been seen to capture fish with great address. 

 In some countries he takes his share of carrion with 

 the other feathered scavengers ; and in London, in the 

 reign of Henry VIII., there were, as we are told by 

 Clusius, vast numbers of kites always on the look-out 

 for the offal, with which the streets of the city were 

 polluted. He appears rarely to pursue birds upon the 

 wing, but the young of the gallinaceous birds not 

 unfrequently fall victims to his talons, and chickens are 

 sometimes carried off by him from the poultry yard, 

 although the hen by her vociferations and show of 

 resistance sometimes succeeds in driving off the 

 cowardly plunderer. La fact, the courage of the Kite 

 seems to be of very low quality, for he allows himself 

 to be attacked and even brought down by the Sparrow- 

 hawk, without making much show of resistance. In 

 France, as already mentioned, the Kite was pursued by 

 falcons for the amusement of the king; and the same 

 sport has been followed in our own country, as recorded 

 by Sir John Sebright. The Kite was attracted towards 

 the ground by means of a great owl, to the leg of 

 j which a fox's brush was usually attached ; this was 

 ! thrown up into the air within sight of the Kite, and 

 the latter, no doubt wondering what strange creature 

 I this was, would gradually advance within the proper 

 | distance of the hawking party. The owl, having been 

 previously trained, was then brought down to the lure, 



and a cast of hawks thrown up in pursuit of the Kite. 

 In captivity the Kite is said to become very tame and 

 familiar, and to display a most engaging amiability of 

 disposition. 



The nest, which is usually built upon the forked 

 branch of a tree in the thickest part of a wood, is 

 composed of sticks and lined with soft materials. It 

 contains from two to three eggs, of a dirty white colour, 

 with a few reddish-brown spots at the larger end. In 

 defence of its nest the Kite seems to exhibit an unusual 

 degree of courage, for Mr. Yarrell tells us that " a boy 

 who climbed up to one had a hole picked through his 

 hat, and one hand severely wounded, before he could 

 drive away the parent bird." 



THE BLACK KITE (Milvus niger), an inhabitant of 

 the south of Europe and of Africa, is still more 

 remarkable as a scavenger than our British species. It 

 is exceedingly abundant in Abyssinia, where it is con- 

 stantly seen clearing the streets and compounds in 

 company with crows. But the most extraordinary 

 part of the character of this bird is its wonderful impu- 

 dence. It frequents the towns and cities of the East in 

 great abundance, and will descend upon chickens, and 

 carry them off from under the very noses of their 

 owners, or even snatch away food from the hands of 

 men and women. Dr. Petit mentions his having seen 

 one of these birds at Cairo carry off a piece of bread 

 and cheese from an Arab woman as she was in the act 

 of putting it into her mouth ; and on another occasion, 

 as a black boy employed by him in preparing birds was 

 engaged upon the skin of a pigeon, a kite descended 

 upon him, tore away the head of the bird, which 

 alone contained any flesh, and left the skin in the 

 hands of the astonished young taxidermist. 



THE GOVTNDA KITE (Milvus Govinda), an inhabi- 

 tant of India, and apparently of the entire southern 

 part of the Asiatic continent, agrees very closely with 

 the Black Kite in its habits, having an equal predilec- 

 tion for carrion and an equally bad character as an 

 impudent robber. These birds will descend upon garb- 

 age in the most crowded streets, and often seize it in 

 their talons at the moment of its being thrown out and 

 before it reaches the ground; and, according to Colonel 

 Sykes, they will even occasionally stoop upon a dish of 

 meat on its way from the cook-room to the house. 



THE BLACK-WINGED KITE (Elanus melanopterus) 

 is a small species of this group, which appears to 

 be spread over nearly the whole of the warmer part 

 of the Old World. It is abundant in India and 

 the islands of the Eastern seas, and in Africa from 

 Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope; specimens also 

 occur, although rarely, in the south of Europe. Its 

 colour is an ashy grey on the upper parts, becoming 

 nearly black on the wings; the whole inferior sur- 

 face is pure white. It feeds principally upon insects, 

 which it often whips up with great address from 

 the ears of standing grain in the fields; in some 

 places it preys freely upon mice, pouncing down upon 

 these small quadrupeds with the rapidity of lightning. 

 Although it sometimes kills and devours small birds, it 

 does not usually capture them on the wing, but seizes 

 them when on the ground or the branch of a tree. Its 

 mode of flight, when hunting for food, is compared to 



