74 FALCONIDA. 
interesting addition to his aviary. They at once became 
very tame and familiar, and were so gentle in disposition 
as to be most engaging. Every morning they had their 
liberty, never flew far, but soared to a great height in the 
air, and, in ‘still repeated circles, displayed thew peculiar 
and graceful flight. To either lure or fist they always 
returned when called. Mice were preferred by them to 
birds or any other food. When these Kites were on 
wing, rats let off from the cage-trap were expertly caught 
by them.”— Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. it. 
p- 172. 
This bird has now become comparatively rare m Eng- 
land; extensive forests or well-wooded districts afforded 
it the only chance of escape from the increasing desire 
to preserve game, and the consequent war of extermination 
carried on by gamekeepers against birds of prey gene- 
rally. 
The nest, formed of sticks and lined with various soft 
materials, is usually placed in the forked branch of a tree 
in a thick wood. Two, and sometimes three eggs, of a 
short oval form, measuring two inches two lines in length 
by one inch nine lines in breadth, of a soiled white colour, 
marked with a few reddish brown spots over the larger 
end, are laid early in the season. The nest and its con- 
tents are sometimes vigorously defended: a boy who 
climbed up to one had a hole pecked through his hat, and 
one hand severely wounded, before he could drive away 
the parent bird. 
In the southern counties of England the Kite is rare: 
Montagu saw but one m Devonshire in twelve years. Dr. 
Moore considers it rare still, but records two or three 
captures; and Mr. Couch mentions two instances of its 
appearance in Cornwall. The woods about Alconbury 
