264 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



in one of the topmost forks of a giant oak growing 

 on a steep hillside. In 1901 Mr. A. Gwynne- 

 Vaughan, at his own expense, tried to do some- 

 thing for them, and had barbed wire twined round 

 the tree ; but all with no avail, for the egg-snatchers 

 came by night (I have always supposed with a rope 

 to throw over the first branch) and sacked the nest. 



OLD NEST OF KITE. 

 March 16, 1902. Wales. 



This pair of Kites have now quite forsaken the 

 district. . . . The best part of an hour's walk now 

 brought us to a shepherd reported as knowing some- 

 thing about the Kite ; but as he insisted that he daily 

 saw three or four feeding on some ant-heaps close to 

 his house (!) we gave him up as hopeless and pro- 

 ceeded to the house of a bird-loving carpenter some 



