276 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



from the same spot on May iQth they could be seen 

 fairly plainly with the naked eye. The two pieces of 

 paper had been quite covered with wool, but a piece 

 of very dirty white rag, about a foot long, had been 

 worked into the sticks, and rabbits fleck littered 

 the whole nest, which smelt very musty, caused by 

 the larger egg of the two, which had turned " addle." 

 The other was, of course, still chipped, but I am 

 afraid it was not a proper " chip," as I had surmised, 

 but caused by the offending twig which I had broken 

 off on the iQth instant. The Kite, after leaving her 

 nest, made one or two circles above the wood, and 

 then made off, but returned at intervals, eventually 

 dropping down to the top of the wood, gliding as if 

 on an inclined plane, but she never uttered a sound. 

 Indeed, it is most unusual to hear the Kite cry at all ; 

 and the other day I fancy that it was the combined 

 influence of our presence aided by the Crow's attack, 

 which made her do so. I now feared that this nest 

 would come to nothing, for here was one egg addle 

 and the other probably containing a dead chick. Of 

 a truth the Kite seems doomed to extinction, in spite 

 of every chance being given to at least one pair. 



On June 3rd I once more waited on this nest with 

 the keeper. When about eighty or ninety yards 

 away 1 just made out the Kite sitting on her nest, 

 her head towards us. She allowed us to get within 

 some fifty yards of her before leaving, when she swept 

 up over the lower slope of the wood. The other day, 

 (May 29th), when coming to the nest from the same 

 direction as to-day, I noticed that she was sitting 

 with her tail towards us. I had brought a Buzzard's 



