Ill Among the Birds in Wales 57 



scanning the unclouded blue for even grander birds 

 than these, I once caught myself saying, as a black 

 speck over the opposite hill began to near us, 

 " It's only a Eaven ! " And this in spite of all the 

 farmer's temptations to destroy this cruel enemy of 

 his. The Eaven wiU not easily be extirpated ; there 

 are still English counties as well as Welsh ones in 

 which he may be hopefully looked for, and if the 

 passion for private egg-collecting can be only kept 

 within due bounds, there need be no fear that he will 

 disappear from our British list. 



But what were those still grander birds for which 

 we augurs were watching the heavens in the last 

 days of March this year ? I have a record, in a diary 

 kept among these hiUs in 1869, of the appearance of 

 a Kite for two successive days; and since then, 

 though always expected to die out, these com- 

 paratively harmless hermits have contrived to main- 

 tain themselves here, as the pages of the Zoologist 

 will testify. This year, almost in the same spot 

 where I first saw them a quarter of a century ago, I 

 once more watched their magnificent flight with 

 wondering eyes. Few Englishmen have had that 

 experience, and some may care to read the note I 

 made. " "We soon saw a Kite above us, at first quite 

 near ; the sun lit up the red colour of his back and 

 tail, and (as he turned) the rusty feathers of his 

 under parts. The wings were narrow, with the 



