The Zoologist — October, 1866. 411 



* * " Watch her as we watch these kites. 

 That bate and beat, and will not be obedient." 



Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Scene 1. 



And it would seem that our poet was not unacquainted with the 

 habit which the kite has, iu common with other hawks, of rejecting or 

 disgorging the undigested portions of its food in the form of pellets ; 



for he says, 



" If chainel-houses and our graves must send 

 Those that we bury back, our monumeDts 

 Shall be the maws of kites." 



Macbeth, Act iii. Scene 4. 



Another curious fact in the natural history of the kite is adverted to 

 in the ' Winter's Tale ' (Act iv. Scene 2) : it is there said, 



" When the kite builds, look to lesser linen." 



This line may perhaps be best illustrated by a description of a kite's 

 nest, which we have seen, that was taken in Huntingdonshire, and 

 which is still in the possession of a friend at Newcastle. The outside 

 of the nest was composed of strong sticks ; the lining consisted of 

 small pieces of linen, part of a saddle-girth, a bit of a harvest glove, 

 part of a straw bonnet, pieces of paper, and a worsted garter ; and 

 in the midst of this singular collection of materials were deposited two 

 eggs. The kite is now almost extinct in England, and a kite's nest of 

 course a great rarity. The Rev. H. B. Tristram, speaking* of the 

 habits of the Egyptian kite {Milvus JEgyptius), says: — " Its nest, the 

 marine-store shop of the desert, is decorated with whatever scraps of 

 hournouses and colotired rags can be collected ; and to these are 

 added, on every surrounding branch, the cast-off coats of serpents, 

 large scraps of thin bark, and perhaps a bustard's wing." 



" Zrd Servant. Where dwellest thou ? 

 Cor. Under the canopy. 

 * * * 



3rd Servant. Where's that? 



Cor. I' the city of kites and crows." 



Coriolanus, Act iv. Scene 5. 



" Some powerful Spirit instruct the kites 

 And ravens to be thy muses." 



Winter's Tale, Act ii. Scene 3. 



Query, whether " muses " shoiUd not be " nurses " ? 



* ' The Great Sahara,' p. 392. 



