THE KITE. (Falco Milvus, or Milvus regalis.)
THE KITE. (Falco Milvus, 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 if she sees it, it will drop the chicken and fly off. 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 longitudinal 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 covering the inside of the wings are red, with black spots in the middle. The eyes are large, the legs and feet yellow, the talons black. It is a handsome bird, and seems almost always on the wing. It rests itself on the air, and does not appear to make the smallest effort in flying, but rather to glide along with the gentlest breeze.
