74 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



The Kite, or Glead, derives its latter name, according 

 to Pennant, from the Saxon glida, a name no doubt sug- 

 gested by the easy sailing movement with which the 

 bird's flight is identified. Even at some considerable dis- 

 tance the bird may be recognised with little or no diffi- 

 culty, so singularly graceful and buoyant is its mode of 

 progression. 



The length of the Kite is about twenty-six inches. 

 The beak, horn colour ; the cere and irides, yellow ; the 

 feathers of the head and neck, greyish-white, with central 

 streak of brown ; the feathers of the back and wing-coverts 

 are dark brown in the middle, with broad rufous edges ; 

 the inner web of some of the tertials is edged with white ; 

 primaries, nearly black. The tail is long and strongly 

 forked ; this is very noticeable in flight. The upper tail- 

 coverts, rufous ; tail feathers, reddish-brown, barred on the 

 inner webs with dark brown ; chin and throat, greyish- 

 white, with dusky streaks ; breast, belly, and thighs, rufous 

 brown, with dark brown centres to the feathers ; under 

 tail-coverts, rufous white ; under part of the tail, greyish- 

 white, showing the brown bars through; legs and toes, 

 yellow ; claws, black. 



The females are somewhat larger than the males ; but, 

 with the exception of the under surface of the female being 

 a little redder than the male, there is no appreciable dif- 

 ference in the plumage of the sexes. 



The Kite feeds principally on " ground game " that 

 is to say, on the young of hens, partridges, pheasants, &c., 

 before they have acquired any powers of flight ; leverets, 

 rabbits, moles, and even snakes and frogs, have also been 

 found in the nests of these birds. As already intimated, it 

 is an assiduous visitor to the poultry yard, but does not 



