130 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
these recent Welsh Kites’ nests. It is a large and very conspicuous structure of 
sticks, placed high up in the fork of a tall tree standing apart by itself. 
The Kite has the curious habit, also common to Jackdaws, of carrying off all 
manner of articles, rags, “lesser linen,” especially anything glittering, to add to 
the lining of its nest; Lord Lilford knew of several instances in which purses of 
money had been found so utilized. The eggs, laid in April, or early in May, are 
generally three in number, sometimes only two; they are dull bluish white, spotted 
or streaked with rusty red, and vary greatly in size; some in the writer’s cabinet 
are covered over with minute streaks; others are suffused with rust colour; others 
are nearly pure white; others with the rust colour collected in a large patch at 
the smaller end. In shape they are rather more elongate than the eggs of the 
Common Buzzard, to which they have a great resemblance. Average measurement 
2°25 inches, by 1°75 inches. 
In spite of its size and formidable appearance, the Kite is a cowardly bird. 
“Its depredations are confined,” according to Montagu, ‘“‘to such animals as are 
found on the ground, young rabbits, hares, and game of all kinds, poultry, and 
young birds incapable of flying. It will also destroy young lambs, and feeds 
greedily on carrion; in defect of these it readily eats mice, worms, and insects, 
and even snakes, the bones of which we have taken from the nest. It frequently 
resorts to the environs of towns to feed on offal, and is seen to sweep such matter 
from the surface of water with great dexterity.” Montagu was much amused by 
witnessing its audacity as a thief:—‘‘A poor woman was washing some entrails 
in a stream of water, part of which extended a few yards out of the basket placed 
in the water: the hungry bird had long been hovering over, viewing with anxious 
eye so delicious a bait, and took the opportunity of actually pouncing upon and 
carrying off a part, in spite of all the woman’s efforts with hands and tongue, the 
latter of which might have alarmed a more powerful enemy.” In the old days of 
Hawking the Kite often afforded good flights when pursued by the Peregrine, and 
for this circumstance was entitled ‘7ega/is,’ as its chase was considered worthy of 
Kings. As late as 1773 this sport was indulged in by the Earl of Orford and 
Col. Thornton on Thetford Heath, in Norfolk, in which county Kites were then 
found in abundance. The old names of the bird testify to its once common dis- 
persion throughout the kingdom; Gled, or Glead, from its graceful gliding flight; 
Puttock, in Shakespeare, etc.; Common Kite; Fork-tailed Kite, etc. The cry of 
the Kite is a shrill scream; when Keble, in the Christian Year, wrote of “the 
wheeling Kite’s wild solitary cry,” the bird was then, (1827) no doubt, common 
enough in Hampshire. 
Dresser states that the Kite is found exclusively in the Western Palzartic 
