120 A STRANGER IN WESTMINSTER 



he receives in return. Gamekeepers, prone to the destruc- 

 tion of every living creature that is not game, view green 

 woodpeckers with marked disfavour. 



XXIX 



In the House of Commons accommodation is provided 

 for visitors of different degrees of distinction 



A Stranger 



in west- who desire to hear debates. There is the 

 minster Strangers' Gallery for ordinary people; the 

 Distinguished Strangers' Gallery for royalties, ambas- 

 sadors, and other notabilities; places under the gallery 

 for a select number of members' personal friends; and 

 the Ladies' Gallery behind the Grille. But on Friday 

 afternoon, May 18, 1906, appeared a stranger whose dis- 

 tinction threw that of all others into the shade. Disdain- 

 ing the places set apart for mere unfeathered bipeds, he 

 took a seat upon one of the pinnacles near the clock 

 tower, greatly to the perturbation of the flocks of pigeons 

 that frequent Palace Yard. 



The official designation of this illustrious visitor is 

 Milvus regalis, the royal kite; its everyday appellation, 

 the common kite, having become singularly inapplicable, 

 for it is now one of the rarest of British birds of prey. 

 Indeed, a few years ago there was almost as much doubt 

 about the survival of this species in the United Kingdom 

 as there was about the continued presence of the true 

 wild cat ; but the interest which has been aroused of late 

 years in the preservation of some of our vanishing birds 

 appears to have been effectual in saving kites from utter 

 extinction. Two or three pairs (increased this year to 

 four, as a friend assures me on the evidence of his own 

 eyes) have continued to nest each year in remote parts 



