IX THE NEST HAUNT OF THE KITE 277 



egg with me, and put that in the nest, bringing away 

 the addle Kite's egg, which on blowing proved to 

 be in a very odoriferous condition, thus proving that 

 it had once been fertile. More wool had been added, 

 especially round the rim, quite concealing the bit of 

 rag which was there on May 29th ; but a large piece of 

 newspaper had been brought and was lying by the 

 side of the egg, on the identical spot where the 

 previous pieces had been laid. I could not see what 

 " paper " this fragment came from, for it was from the 

 bottom half, and was a sheet given up to adver- 

 tisements, for I saw several applications for servants 

 and quinine wine advertised (this latter in very large 

 letters) on it. The Kite kept above us whilst we 

 were at the nest, and " mewed " once. 



I visited the Buzzard's nest lower down in the 

 wood, and found it contained two young, about a 

 week old, and a freshly-killed rabbit half grown. It 

 was quite warm, and the female could have but just 

 brought it in for she left the nest on our approach 

 Of the two the male was the most distressed. 



The last time I visited Kite country was on June 

 1 2th, and meeting the keeper, we proceeded once 

 more to the nest. We got within less than twenty- 

 yards of the nest and stood looking at it, when 

 " swish ! " off glided the sitting Kite, giving us a lovely 

 view indeed. The keeper, who has seen many Forky- 

 tails, opined that it was the finest he had ever seen, 

 and certainly she was a grand bird. From her sitting 

 so close, I rather thought that she might have a 

 young one, but in this was doomed to disappointment, 

 for on climbing up I found that she had been sitting 



