44 
THE KITE, 
From the ignoble habits of the bird, the name “ kite ” 
became a term of reproach :~— 
“ You kite ! ” 
Antony and Cleopatra , Act iii. Sc. 13. 
And— 
“ Detested kite ! ” 
King Lear , Act i. Sc. 4. 
When pressed by hunger, however, the kite becomes 
more fearless ; and instances have occurred in which a 
bird of this species has entered the farmyard and boldly 
carried off a chicken. 
Wer’t not all one, an empty eagle were set 
To guard the chicken from a hungry kite, 
As place Duke Humphrey for the king’s protector ?” 
Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1. 
The synonym “ puttock ” is sometimes applied to the 
kite, sometimes to the common buzzard. In the following 
passage, where reference is made to the supposed murder 
of Gloster by Suffolk, it evidently has reference to the 
former bird :— 
“ Who finds the partridge in the puttock’s nest, 
But may imagine how the bird was dead, 
Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak ? ” 
Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 2. 
With the ancients the kite appears to have been a bird 
of ill-omen. In Cymbeline (Act. i. Sc. 2), Imogen says :— 
