THE KITE. 127 
Family—FALCONID/E. Genus—MILVUS. 
THE KITES. 
HERE are, Dresser states, six representatives of the Genus Milvus, all 
belonging to the Old World, of which one was formerly a characteristic 
British bird, but is now all but lost to our Ornis, owing to persecution. One 
other, the Black Kite, has been only once obtained as a straggler in this country. 
The Kites are lovers of the woodlands, of graceful soaring flight, they frequent 
the neighbourhood of rivers, and are partial to inhabited districts, commonly 
venturing into towns where they are useful scavengers. They build in lofty trees, 
and in cliffs, using all manner of strange articles for the lining of their nests. 
Their wings are long, and the tail is long and forked. 
Family—FALCONID. 
KITE. 
Milvus ictinus, SAVIGNY. 
HE present century has witnessed the almost complete extermination of the 
Red Kite in the British Isles, formerly one of our most characteristic birds 
that might have been seen wheeling in its buoyant and graceful flight, and dis- 
playing its long forked tail in any wooded landscape. In the home and midland 
counties it was especially numerous, becoming scarcer in the extreme south-west. 
In the middle ages it is on record that foreigners used to be astonished at its 
numbers even in London itself, where, no doubt, it was a useful scavenger. 
