THE KITE. 145 



he spread-eagles himself against any warm wall. The 

 young Kite is indeed handsomely spotted with bufE 

 after he has grown out of his white nestUng-down — 

 for young Kites are not indecently nude like young 

 crows — but when this ultimately gives place to the 

 sombre sr.uff-colour of the adult bird, there is little 

 for the aesthetic eye to take hold of. But the Kite 

 may fairly claim to be both useful and harmless. 

 Garbage of any sort, from a dead rat to a footful of 

 boiled rice, he will appropriate and make away with, 

 if not robbed of it by the crows ; and he cannot very 

 well do much harm, as anything with any sense 

 knows how to get out of his way. Moreover, he is 

 an arrant coward as a rule, though bolder in defence 

 of his nest than the crow, whose parental affection 

 is apt to be overborne by a prudent distrust of his 

 powers of flight ; a Kite's nest is not to be approached 

 without caution if one does not want to be clawed 

 over the scalp. 



The Kite's most unpleasant habit is that of eating 

 his prey alive — a trait which marks him as a bird 

 accustomed to tackle what can't hit him back ; since 

 the " nobler " hawks have, in self-defence, to kill 

 their more powerful quarry, as quickly as possible. 

 Altogether he is not a nice bird, and one can quite 

 understand how when tame falcons and wild Kites 

 were well known to our ancestors, the name of the 



F, BC 10 



