SO THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



missed them both. The poor birds with loud cries of 

 alarm scudded along for a short distance, and then 

 dropped into the long heath ; while the kite, urged on- 

 wards by the impetus of his swoop, rose gracefully in the 

 air, and wheeling over my head, mounted upwards in 

 spiral circles, gradually increasing in circumference until 

 tie became a mere speck in the blue sky, and was lost to 

 my gaze. I could not help admiring the ease with which 

 this was done, for after he commenced his gyrations I 

 could not detect a single stroke of his wings ; he soared 

 aloft as if propelled by some invisible power, his forked 

 tail, broadly outspread, alone moved, as rudder-like, it 

 directed his graceful course. 



Another, a female, was shot near Edwinstowe while 

 flying from the old trees of Birkland to the grounds 

 surrounding the house of the late Dowager Countess of 

 Scarborough. At one time the kite was by no means 

 uncommon, but, from its habit of taking its prey on 

 the ground, it is easily trapped, and I have little doubt 

 that this is one of the chief causes of its diminished 

 numbers. 



To me there is something very wild in the shrill 

 squeal of the kite, and when heard in the moorland dis- 

 tricts, where now it is chiefly to be encountered, it has -a 

 peculiarly drear and mournful sound. 



I have met with all the buzzards more or less fre- 

 quently, especially in the wilder and less wooded parts 

 of the district ; but I have not found any of them breed- 

 ing with us. Those whose presence I have recorded 

 must have migrated from other quarters, and they, alas! 

 are no sooner seen than they are picked off by the 

 keepers, leaving their places to be supplied by fresh 

 victims. 



