104 COMMON KITE. 



circling flight, and maintaining its equilibrium by 

 a slight exertion of its pinions at distant intervals. 

 During these wanderings it is meditating its prey 

 beneath, and occasionally descends from its aerial 

 height in order to seize some bird or other animal 

 within its view. It principally preys on young 

 chickens, ducks, goslings, &c. and is in consequence 

 proscribed by the universal voice of every village 

 In the country. Were it not for these depredations 

 its appearance would be welcomed as the har- 

 binger of clear skies and fine weather; for it is in 

 such that it makes its principal excursions. It 

 breeds in large forests, and wooded hilly countries ; 

 and its nest is said to be composed of sticks and 

 twigs, and lined with a kind of miscellaneous 

 assortment of wool, pieces of rope, fragments of 

 flannel, paper, or any other articles which it hap- 

 pens to find on the ground. It lays two, and 

 sometimes three eggs, which are white, roundish, 

 and marked with dull-yellow spots. 



In the days of King Henry the eighth, as appears 

 from the observations of the celebrated Clusius, 

 (L'Ecluse) the British metropolis itself swarmed 

 with Kites, which were attracted by the various 

 kind of offals thrown into the streets, and were so 

 fearless as to take their prey in the midst of the 

 greatest crowds, it being forbidden to kill them. 

 Thus the Kite was as much reverenced in the 

 streets of London in those times as the Vulture is 

 at present in those of Grand Cairo or Alexandria. 

 The descent of a Kite at the present day, in 

 Cheapside or Charing-Cross, would probably at- 



