28 THE GREY FALCON— KITE— BUZZARD. 



Of the different kinds of hawks used for this diversion, we now 

 know little more than their names ; but 



THE GREY FALCON 



Was that which in elegance and size excelled all the lest. Its 

 throat is of a delicate white, and the ground colour of its whole 

 plumage is the same, but variegated with dusky hues, spots, anu 

 bars. This elegant bird is an inhabitant of the northern districts 

 of Scotland, and when falconry was fashionable, it was held in 

 high estimation. In this, as well as the other tribes of animated 

 nature, a number of varieties exist, of which we shall not give a 

 particular description ; but will proceed to give a glance at the 

 kite and the "buzzard. 



THE KITE 



Is a bird of the rapacious kind, for which the good housewives 

 and breeders of poultry have an implacable dislike. He flies 

 round and round to reconnoitre a breed of chickens, and then 

 on a sudden darts like lightning on one of the unresisting little 

 creatures, and in a moment carries it off, in spite of the cries of 

 the hen, which has not a power of wing sufficient to enable her 

 to mount into the air and pursue the plunderer. The kite may 

 be easily distinguished from all other birds of prey, by his forked 

 tail, as well as by his slow and equable motion on the wing. Its 

 length is about twenty-seven inches, and the expansion of its 

 wings nearly five feet. It usually builds its nests in woods, es- 

 pecially in mountainous countries. The high soaring of the 

 \kites is considered as a prognostic of dry weather* and Lor^ 

 Bacon's authority sanctions the opinion. 



THE BUZZARD, 



In its habits and disposition, resembles the kite, and is not 

 much inferior in size ; its length being about twenty-two inches, 

 and the full expansion of its wings about five feet. This bird is 

 sluggish and inactive. It feeds on birds, rabbits, moles, and 

 mice. In summer he lives chiefly by robbing the nests of 

 other birds and sucking their eggs ; and the indolence of his 

 disposition causes him, in general, to prefer acquisitions that 

 are easily made, before what must be carried by laborious 

 pursuit. 



That the buzzard is capable of domestication, will appear 

 from the following account originally given by M. Fontaine, and 

 inserted in Buffon's Natural History : 



" In 1763, says the narrator, a buzzard was brought to me 

 that had been taken in a snare. It was at first extremely wild 

 and unpromising ; but I undertook to tame it, and succeeded* 



