Kites, Have short tarsi, weak toes and claws, and a beak small and weak in proportion to their size. Their long wings and forked tail enable them to fly with great case and ra pidity.
F. furcatus, Lin. &c. Swallow-tailed Falcon. White ; with the back, wings, and very long forked tail, purplish black. About two feet long, and of very elegant propor tions and plumage, the whole bird, on a general view, hav ing the appearance of some gigantic species of swallow ; but the curved bill, and lengthened plumes on the thighs, denote its true station in the system. It feeds principally on insects, which it catches in its flight ; but it also preys on the smaller kinds of snakes, lizards, &c. and is often observed to tear off the nests of wasps as it glides along the trees on which they are fixed. Found in Carolina, Louisiana, &c. but migrates to South America on the ap proach of cold weather.
F. milvus, Lin. &c. Common Kite. Prov. Glead, Greedy Glead, and Puttock. Variegated with brown, and ferruginous; head whitish, and streaked with brown, tail ferruginous, and much forked. The male weighs about two pounds six ounces, and measures two feet two inches in length, and upwards of five feet in extent of wing. The female is somewhat larger.
The kite is a native of most of the countries of Europe, and of various regions of Siberia and of Africa. It like wise occurs in some of the provinces of America. Al though it has been traced to the south of Norway, there is reason to believe that many of those which breed in Eu rope retire into Egypt, or other hot latitudes, during the cold season. Their appearance in Greece, during the spring, is alluded to by Aristophanes. It is, nevertheless, certain, that not a few in this and other countries of Eu rope, are stationary throughout the year The species is partial to hilly and wooded situations. Early in spring the female makes a nest in a fork of some large tree, com posing it of sticks, and lining it with such soft materials as chance may happen to throw within its reach, as wool, the inner bark of some tree, hair, bits of cloth, &c. The eggs, which are commonly three, and rarely four, are larger than those of the domestic hen, and of a dirty white, with a few rusty spots at the large end, though sometimes quite plain.
The most ordinary observer of our native birds must be acquainted with the elegant appearance of the kite, while sailing aloft in its circling flight, and maintaining its e.;uipoise by a slight exertion of its pinions at distant
intervals. It is then watching the surface of the soil for prey ; and it occasionally descends from its airy height on „ _ some bird, or other creature, within its view ; its depreda tions being limited to animals on the ground, as young rabbits, hares, game of all kinds, poultry, and young birds, incapable of flight. It will also destroy young lambs, and feed greedily on carrion ; but in default of these, it readily eats mice, worms, insects, and even snakes. It frequent ly resorts to the neighbourhood of towns, to pick up offids, which it also sweeps from the surface of the water with great dexterity. Were it not such an unmerciful invader of the poultry-yard, it would be welcomed as the harbin ger of fine weather and clear skies, with which its princi pal excursions coincide, whereas its clamours are said to presage rain and storms. So cowardly is it in its disposi tions, that it is often insulted and pursued by the crow, and that, notwithstanding its vehement appetite for chick ens, the anger of the brooding hen will drive it away. At times, however, it is so completely absorbed in the grati fication of feeding, that it will allow a person to approach near it, or even knock it down.
In the towns of Upper Egypt, where this bird is not only tolerated but cherished, it abounds on the terraces of the houses, and lives in perfect harmony with vultures, thus rendering.a most important service to the communi ty, by acting as scavengers, or police-men. At Constan tinopl? they are equally protected, and consequently so tame, that they fly towards those who whistle to them. Busbequius mentions, that he ordered the insides of a sheep to be cut into small pieces, and whistled to the kites, when many flew about him, and, as he threw the bits of meat into the air, they would catch them before they fell to the ground. In the days of King Henry VIII. as appears from the observations of Clusius, even the British metropolis swarmed with kites, which were at tracted by the various kinds of °flak thrown into the street, and were so fearless as to snatch up their prey in the midst of the greatest crowds ; for it was forbidden to kill them.