198 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



to soar, like the martins, during a high wind, and will spend hours in this sport, 



rising and falling alternately ; and at times, seeming to abandon itself to the fur}' of 



the gale, is blown away like thistle-down, until, suddenly recovering itself, it shoots 



back to its original position. Where there are tall poplar-trees, these birds amuse 



themselves by perching on the topmost slender twigs, balancing themselves with 



outspread wings, each bird on a separate tree, until the tree-tops are swept by 



the wind from under them, when they often remain poised almost motionless in 



tlie air until the twigs return to their feet." 



Although the term kite is now commonly applied to many 



True Kites . . »/ a. x «/ 



members of the present family, it should properly be restricted to 



the species of the genus Milvus, and belongs, strictly speaking, only to the common 

 or red kite (M. ictinus), also known in England as the glead. In Britain the 

 kite is one of those species which has suffered most severely from incessant 

 persecution, having gradually diminished in numbera from the time of Shake- 

 speare, when these birds were to be seen in numbers on the Thames in London, 

 till the present day, when it is practically extinct in the southern and midland 

 counties, although still lingering in the west and north. The kites belong to a 

 group of five genera, easily distinguished from the foregoing members of the 

 subfamily by their more or less deeply-forked tails, in which the outermost 

 feathers are the longest. In the kites the forking of the tail is of moderate 

 depth, and approximately equal in length to the interval between the tips of 

 the primary and secondary quills, while the liead is devoid of a crest. The wings 

 are long, reaching nearly to the end of the tail, with the fourth or the third and 

 fourth quills the longest, the beak slightly festooned, and the metatarsus and toes 

 short, with claws of moderate length. There are some half-dozen species, exclusively 

 confined to the Old World, where they range over all the continents and Australia. 

 Kites are the scavengers of the hawk family, feeding chiefly on refuse and garbage, 

 although also consuming insects, reptiles, and such young or feeble birds or mammals 

 as they can capture. Spending most of their time on the wing, they soar gracefully 

 in large, sweeping circles, and form a striking feature in the bird-life of all eastern 

 cities. Their nests may be built either in trees, buildings, or on rocks. 



The common or red kite of Europe, represented in the lower figure of our 

 illustration, attains a length of about 24 inches, and differs from all its con- 

 geners by its rufous tail and the general rufous tinge of the entire plumage. In 

 old males the head and throat are whitish with brown streaks, the upper-parts 

 having the feathers dark brown in the middle with rufous edgings, tending to 

 buff on the extreme margins, more especially in the wing-coverts. The primary 

 quills and primary coverts are black, with some white at the base of their 

 inner webs ; the upper tail-coverts rufous, the tail-feathers reddish brown, with 

 their inner webs barred with dark brown ; and the under-parts rufous-brown 

 with a dark median streak to each feather. The beak is horn-colour, and the cere 

 and iris, together with the legs and feet, yellow, the claws being black. The kite 

 is distributed over the greater part of Europe, breeding as far north as the south 

 of Scandinavia, and becoming gradually more rare in the eastern districts. In 

 winter it ranges to Lower Egypt, Algeria, and Palestine. The nest is built either 

 in the fork of a tree or, more rarelj^, in a cleft of rock ; and the three or four egg& 



