The Kite. 
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THE KITE. (Falco Mdvus, or Milvus regalis.) 
This bird, though it belongs to the falcon tribe, is called 
ignoble, because it is never used in hawking. It is 
easily distinguished from other birds of prey by its 
forked tail, and the slow and circular eddies it describes 
in the air whenever it spies from the regions of the 
clouds a young duck or a chicken which has strayed too 
far from the brood. When this is the case, the Kite, 
pouncing on it with the rapidity of a dart, seizes it in 
its talons, and carries it off to its nest. It is, however, 
a great coward, and if the hen flies at it, which she 
always does \i she sees it, it will drop the chicken and 
fly oif. It is larger than the common buzzard ; and 
though it weighs somewhat less than three pounds, the 
extent of its wings is more than five feet. The head 
and neck are of a pale ash colour, varied with longi- 
tudinal lines across the shafts of the feathers ; the back 
is reddish ; the lesser rows of the wing feathers are 
party-coloured, of black, red, and white ; the feathers 
