230 KITE. Class II. 



Sa.voji Glida. Lord Bacon observes, that when 

 kites fly high, it portends fair and dry weather. 

 Some have supposed them to be birds of pas- 

 sage; but in England they certainly continue 

 the whole year. Clusius relates * that when he 

 was in London, he observed a most amazing 

 number of kites that flocked there for the sake 

 of the offals, &c. which were flung in the streets. 

 They were so tame as to take their prey in the 

 midst of the greatest crowds, and it was forbid- 

 den to kill them. 



The tail of this kind is sufficient to distinguish 

 it from all other British birds of prey, being 

 forked. Pliny thinks that the invention of the 

 rudder arose from the observation men made 

 of the various motions of that part, when the 

 kite was steering through the air j" . Certain it 

 is that the most useful arts were originally co- 

 pied from animals ; however i ve may now have 

 improved upon them. Still in those nations 

 which are in a state of nature, (such as the Sa- 

 7uoieds and Esquimaux) their dwellings are in- 

 ferior to those of the beavers, which those 

 scarcely human beings but poorly copy. 

 Descrip. The weight of this species is forty-four 



TION. 



* Belon ols. adftnem Chis. eao(. 108. 



f I idem videntur artem gubernandi docuisse cawke flexibus. 

 Lib. x. c. 10. 



