46 HABITS OF THE KITE. 



" But I will watch you from such watching now." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. Sc. 4. 



The habit which the kite has, in common with other 

 rapacious birds, of rejecting or disgorging the undigested 

 portions of its food, such as bones and fur, in the shape of 

 pellets, was apparently well known to Shakespeare, for 

 he says : — 



" If charnel-houses and our graves must send 

 Those that we bury back, our monuments 



Shall be the maws of kites." 



Macbeth, Act iii. Sc. 4. 

 And again, — 



" Thou detestable maw . 

 Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3. 



Another curious fact in the natural history of the kite 

 is adverted to in the Winter's Tale (Act iv. Sc. 2). It is 

 there said, — 



" When the kite builds, look to lesser linen." 



This line may be perhaps best illustrated by giving a 

 description of a kite's nest which we have seen, and which 

 was taken many years ago in Huntingdonshire. The 

 outside of the nest was composed of strong sticks ; the 

 lining consisted of small pieces of linen, part of a saddle- 

 girth, a bit of a harvest glove, part of a straw bonnet, 



