THE KITE. 167

a tinge of orange-colour; the legs are yellow. The kite
builds in forests, in the forked branch of a large tree, the
outer part being formed of twigs, and the inner lined with
wool, or some equally soft warm substance ; the female lays
two or three eggs of a whitish colour, spotted with yellow.
The kite is almost perpetually on the wing, and its flight is
easy and elegant as it hovers over its prey, of which young
ducks, chickens, and goslings form a favourite part.

“There was a time when the kite appears to have been
of as much service in London as the vulture still is in some
of the crowded cities of the East, for we read that in the
reign of Henry VIII. the British metropolis swarmed with
kites, attracted thither by the various kinds of offal thrown
into the streets, and that these birds fearlessly descended,
and fearlessly performed the scavengers’ office in the midst
of the people, it being forbidden to kill them*.” In
Turkey and Egypt they are still very useful in this respect,
hovering about, and resting on houses till called by a
whistle, when they descend and clear the ground of any
refuse matter.

There are several species of kite in southern Asia, Ame-
rica, and Australia, but they differ very little from the com-

* Manunder’s Treasury.