THE KITE. 



ever-increasing list, " our rare biros." 

 50 



Falco in U V us. 

 lilvua vulgar is 



ERHAPS uo British bird of 

 prey has suffered more from 

 the hostility of the farmer 

 and the gamekeeper than the 

 Kite, or Glead. At one time 

 it was comparatively common 

 and well distributed through- 

 out Great Britain ; but its 

 rapacity and destructiveness 

 in the matter of young birds, 

 especially of the gallinaceous 

 orders, has gained it such an 

 unenviable notoriety, that 

 every man's hand has been 

 against it, and the warfare 

 so persistently carried on has 

 almost produced its extinc- 

 tion. In some of the more 

 densely-wooded parts of the 

 country the Kite is still to be 

 seen ; but its numbers have 

 sadly diminished, and in a 

 few more years it will proba- 

 bly take its place in that 



