THE KITE. 129 
cross the British Channel into Devonshire ; the writer has known of several having 
been either trapped or shot, one so recently as in the spring of last year (1896), 
and the only Kite he himself has ever had the pleasure to see wheeling in the 
air was one he saw near Bratton, in North Devon, many years ago. Some woods 
in Huntingdonshire were among its last resorts in England; while in Radnorshire, 
in North Wales, it was still nesting in 1870. 
Some notes on “ Birds in Mid Wales” in the Zoologist for 1895, by Mr. J. 
H. Salter, give the latest account of Kites in the British Islands. Mr. Salter 
considered it ‘‘dowbtful if more than seven or eight pairs are left in the Princi- 
pality. I know of no recent instance of the Kite having nested in Cardiganshire. 
At Devil’s Bridge, which was formerly a favourite haunt, I hear of thirteen having 
been seen on the wing at once. The last nest in this locality was about 1860. 
The female was shot from the nest, and the eggs taken. Two young birds from 
the same neighbourhood were brought to Nanteos. The female, after killing her 
companion, lived there for about twenty years in captivity, and laid one egg. 
The Kite wanders to some extent, and occasionally revisits its old haunts.” He 
further states:—‘‘On March 26th, 1894, a pair were reported to be building in a 
small wood of thin oaks, where for some years they have persisted in attempting 
to nest in full view of a neighbouring farm. I was not able to visit this locality 
till May 6th. The nest was soon found, but was empty, the eggs having evidently 
been taken. A specimen of the lining included a piece of coarse sacking, old 
news-paper, and tobacco-paper. Near at hand was last year’s nest, and at no great 
distance a third older nest. In the latter were two or three pen-feathers, showing 
that it had held young Kites, probably in 1892. While this investigation was in 
progress, a Kite passed over the wood. Passing a bold wooded bluff at the 
junction of three valleys—a great meeting-place for Kites, Buzzards, Ravens, and 
Carrion Crows, and the scene of constant aérial skirmishing—we mounted to a 
wooded gulley above which a pair of Kites soon appeared. They were silent, but 
their animated flight, which I had never seen to such advantage, showed their 
interest in our approach. As they rose or dipped behind the sky-line, the forked 
tail was now closed, now spread, and inclined to one side or the other with each 
easy and graceful turn. The nest proved to be one in which we had found young 
Carrion Crows last year. It had been enlarged and repaired, and by climbing the 
slope I could look into it, thus ascertaining that it contained one egg. This was 
no doubt the second attempt at breeding of the pair whose nest we had seen 
previously. Report spoke of a second pair in a neighbouring valley. A farmer 
told me that he remembered an instance of the Kite, in general a tree-builder, 
having nested upon the rocks.” The writer possesses a photograph of one of 
Vou. 1 BA 
