182 BOMBAY DUCKS 
The rarer the bird, the greater its value to the col- 
lector; hence every uncommon species is shot to 
extinction, The kite is now just not extinct in Eng- 
land. Its extermination has been prevented only by 
the fact that a few landowners have interested them- 
selves in the bird and are protecting it. The kite, 
however, flourishes in the East, and is likely to do so 
for many years to come. It will be a very long time 
before India is Europeanized to such an extent that 
the kites have to subsist on poultry. 
The kite (Wzlvus govinda) is one of the commonest 
birds in the “Land of Regrets.” It is so very common 
there that it does not receive half the attention it de- 
serves. Were it a rare bird we should marvel at its 
wonderful powers of flight. Indeed, the new arrival in 
India, if he ever notices natural objects, is perhaps 
more struck by the kites than by anything else in this 
country. Colonel Cunningham writes, after thirty 
years’ residence in India, that he was so impressed by 
the kites that it seems only yesterday that he first saw 
them wheeling over the stream of the Hooghly. 
I cannot refrain from quoting his description of 
them: “In truth, they are very beautiful birds. Their 
bright, bold, brown eyes and cruel talons are splendid 
objects ; the soft shading of their plumage is admirable, 
especially when seen at a short distance, as the great 
birds glide gently to and fro, passing and repassing 
through alternate zones of sunshine and shadow; no- 
thing can prevent their flight, with its easy evolutions, 
smoothly sweeping spires and headlong plunges, from 
being an endless source of delight to the onlooker.” 
