IX THE NEST HAUNT OF THE KITE 269 



evolutions. After this one pair took their departure, 

 whilst the other kept more or less in the vicinity of 

 the wood, and through this I now worked. The 

 ancient nest there had been patched up to a certain 

 extent ; more sticks added, some large mats of wool 

 and one piece of blue-striped calico woven into the 

 sticks. It did not look at all healthy, however, nor 

 did the Fork-tails come over me whilst I was in- 

 specting it, so I came to the sad conclusion that 

 through my short-sightedness in not visiting this 

 haunt between April 3rd and 3Oth some rascal had 

 once more looted the Kites, for by this date Kites 

 should be " setting " hard. Coming out of the wood, I 

 again saw one Kite, and a mile further on yet another 

 both, I think, the original pair. 



On the way back I visited the keeper in whose 

 beat the wood is I visited on April i8th. He had 

 found no nest, but had seen both Kites in its vicinity. 



I see from my diary of May 5th that I saw a Kite 

 in a most unexpected spot whilst looking up a pair 

 of Buzzards. This must be a single bird which has 

 its beat over a large stretch of country ; for if the 

 same, it has been seen at points well over twenty 

 miles apart. This distance is, of course, nothing for a 

 bird like the Forky-tail ; but at this time of year 

 it all tends to show that this one is unable to find a 

 mate. 



On May I2th, whilst taking a hill-walk, I again saw 

 a pair of Kites, but they were, I imagine, the pair 

 belonging to a haunt already mentioned, for I was 

 not more than five miles distant from it. It did not 

 look well to see them both together at this date. 



