KITE, Rilvus, a genus of faiconidce, or a sub-family including elanets, etc., of which only one species is a common native of Britain, and another is amongst its rarest visitants. The kites have much weaker bill and talons than the falcons and hawks, but the wings are much longer, and the tail is rather long and forked. Their legs are short. They are remarkable for their gracefulness of flight, and power of sailing and wheeling about, or gliding in the air. A Scotch and local Englishname of the COMMON KITE (.11. vulgarix), GLEAD or GLED, is believed to be from the same root with glide. The common kite is found in almost all parts of Europe, the n. and center of Asia, and the n. of Africa. It is fully 2 ft. in length, from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail, the plumage mostly brown, of various shades, in some parts mixed with It feeds on reptiles, mice, moles, and other small quadrupeds, and the young of gallinaceons birds, searching for its prey on the ground, and often from no small elevation in the air. It sometimes
catches fish. In former times, when it was much more plentiful in Britain than.now, it was the scourge of poultry-yards, pouncing on young chickens. It was also the scavenger of London and other English towns, devouring the offal, as it still does in sonic of the towns of eastern Europe, and performing its office fearlessly even in the midst of the people. This continued to be the case in London to time time of Henry 'III. The kite's nest is usually in the fork of a tree in a thick wood. It is ersilv tamed.—A very rare British bird is the swallow-tailed kite (nauclows furcatus), a smaller bird than the com mon kite, abundant in many parts of North America.—The GOVINDA KITE (M. gorinda) is common in India.—Other species are found in different parts of the world.