38 CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



forty-eight to fifty broad ; the wing measures sixteen, and the tail from eleven to twelve inches. The 

 distinguishing characteristics of this bird are its somewhat delicate beak, furnished with well developed, 

 tooth-like appendages, and terminating in a long hook ; and the shape of its wings, in which the 

 fourth quill is the longest, and the first shorter than the seventh ; its tail is, moreover, black and 

 forked. The plumage, composed of narrow feathers, is of a dirty white upon the head, throat, and 

 neck, streaked longitudinally with dark greyish brown ; the breast is reddish brown, varied with still 

 darker markings ; the feathers on the breast and the hose are rust-red, with black shafts ; those on the 

 back, shoulders, and wing-covers are dark brown, with a narrow light border; the upper wing is rust 

 colour, each feather being edged with brownish white, and spotted with black on the shaft. The 

 quills, which are tipped with brownish black, are whitish upon the inner web ; the tail is brown, and 

 decorated with from nirje to twelve narrow brown and black lines ; the beak is black, the cere yellow, 

 the eyes brownish grey, and the feet orange. The plumage of the young is of an uniform brown, the 

 cere and feet of a paler yellow than those of the adult birds ; the beak js black, and the eyes dark 

 brown. 



The Black Kite is replaced in Africa and South-western Asia by a species known as the Parasite 

 Kite, for which it is frequently mistaken. The former is very commonly met with in Russia and the 

 eastern parts of our continent, where it frequents such woodland districts as are in the vicinity of water, 

 to which it flies daily in search of food, returning at night to sleep upon the trees. The season for 

 migration commences about October; but this bird seldom journeys farther south than Egypt, and 

 returns to its summer quarters in the month of March. The Black Kite is in many respects highly 

 endowed, though by no means worthy to be classed among the nobler Birds of Prey. Its flight is light, 

 hovering, and capable of being long sustained ; when upon the ground, its movements are also more 

 graceful than those of most of its congeners, the body and head being held erect. The sight of this 

 species is remarkably acute, and its other senses by no means deficient ; its instincts are keen, yet, in 

 spite of these many gifts, the Black Kite must be regarded as one of the most audacious and shameless 

 beggars to be found among the feathered tribes. Too lazy and cowardly to kill its own prey, it 

 devotes its life for the most part to theft, stealing habitually the quarry other birds have obtained, and 

 following and tormenting them with such pertinacity, that at last, out of sheer weariness of its impor- 

 tunities, they throw down the coveted prize ; it will, however, destroy rats, mice, and other small 

 quadrupeds, and frequently captures fishes during the spawning season. 



Notwithstanding that the cowardice of this bird is so great that a clucking hen could scare it 

 away, it manages to render itself a most troublesome visitor to the farmyard, where its cunning and 

 adroitness stand in the stead of nobler qualities, and enable it, unobserved, to steal many a fat chicken 

 or duckling. When other food is scarce it will consume frogs, and is always attracted by carrion. 

 The breeding season commences about April or May, and is inaugurated by a series of graceful 

 evolutions through the air, in the performance of which both male and female take a share, the former 

 continuing frequently to soar aloft for the entertainment of his mate during such time as family cares 

 confine her to the nest. The eyrie is placed upon a very high tree, and most artistically constructed of 

 dry twigs, with some soft and elastic material, such as moss, hay, shreds of cloth, or even cuttings of 

 paper. The brood, which consists of three or four yellowish or greyish white eggs, either marked or 

 spotted with brown, is tended by the female with great care and affection. The young are reared upon 

 mice, frogs, and occasionally small birds ; they remain for a long time in the nest, and even some 

 weeks after leaving it are nourished and instructed by their parents ; when this period of tuition is 

 over they separate, each bird going its own way, and beginning life for itself. Towards autumn they 

 all again assemble, previous to setting forth upon their winter migrations. When in captivity the 

 Black Kite soon learns to attach itself to those that feed it. 



