BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



from the ground ; therefore hares, rabbits, and even 

 lambs, occasionally form its food as well as young 

 birds : however, to make up in some degree for these 

 mischievous propensities, it will also eat mice, 

 worms, and even snakes. It also, in a manner, ful- 

 fils the duties which in warmer climates devolve 

 upon the Vulture, as it feeds on carrion and all sorts 

 of offal, which it will even sweep from the surface of 

 the water with great dexterity.* While on the sub- 

 ject of the food of the Kite, I may observe that it is 

 also said to take fish from the water.t It is also said 

 occasionally to visit the poultry-yard, but as it is not 

 a very plucky bird, hens sometimes succeed in pro- 

 tecting their young and driving off the intruder. It 

 is easily kept in confinement, and attains a great age ; 

 one account, in the * Zoologist,' says as much as 

 forty years. 



" The nest is formed of sticks, and lined with 

 various soft materials : it is usually placed in the 

 forked branch of a tree in a thick wood." I 



Not having a Kite in my own collection, and I am 

 afraid not having much chance of getting one, I have 

 taken the following description from Meyer's ' British 

 Birds ' : " The adult male has the beak black at the 

 tip, bluish towards the base; cere yellow; hides 



* Montagu's Dictionary, by Newman. 

 f Yarrell, vol. i., p. 79. 

 I Id., p. 81. 



