“They always feed on the wing. In calm and warm weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the large insects called Musquito Hawks, and performing the most singular evolutions that can be conceived, using their tail with an elegance of motion peculiar to themselves. Their principal food, however, is large Grasshoppers, Grass Caterpillars, small Snakes, Lizards, and Frogs. They sweep close over the fields, sometimes seeming to alight for a moment to secure a Snake, and holding it fast by the neck, carry it off, and devour it in the air. When searching for Grasshoppers and Caterpillars, it is not difficult to approach them under cover of a fence or tree. When one is then killed, and falls to the ground, the whole flock comes over the dead bird, as if intent upon carrying it off. An excellent opportunity is thus afforded of shooting as many as may be wanted; and I have killed several of these Hawks in this manner, firing as fast as I could load my gun.
“The Fork-tailed Hawks are also very fond of frequenting the creeks, which, in that country, are much encumbered with drifted logs and accumulations of sand, in order to pick up some of the numerous Water-snakes which lie basking in the sun. At other times they dash along the trunks of trees, and snap off the pupæ of the Locust, or that insect itself. Although when on the wing they move with a grace and ease which it is impossible to describe, yet on the ground they are scarcely able to walk.
“I kept for several days one which had been slightly wounded in the wing. It refused to eat, kept the feathers of the head and rump constantly erect, and vomited several times part of the contents of its stomach. It never threw itself on its back, nor attempted to strike with its talons, unless when taken up by the tip of the wing. It died from inanition, as it constantly refused the food placed before it in profusion, and instantly vomited what had been placed down its throat.”
THE COMMON KITE (Milvus ictinus[197]).
Times have changed in England since the number of Kites to be seen flying about London Bridge could form a subject of astonishment to a foreign traveller visiting that country; but less than three hundred years ago this was the case, though now the species has been all but banished from the land. It may still occasionally nest in some parts of Wales and of Scotland; but in the latter country places where formerly the species bred plentifully now know it no more. The Kite builds its nest of sticks on a large tree, but occasionally also on rocks, and it is generally composed of a mixture of materials, such as bones, &c., and the lining usually contains a good many rags; so that Shakspere, with the knowledge of natural history which always distinguished him, was quite right when he said—
“When the Kite builds, look to lesser linen.”
The presence of the Kite in London was useful in the old days, as its food consists by preference of offal, though it also devours Moles, Frogs, and unfledged nestlings, Rabbits, Snakes, and fish. The forked tail of this species—which serves as a rudder to the bird when flying, as it often does, in circles aloft—easily distinguishes it from all other British birds of prey. The length of the bird is about two feet, and the general colour of the upper plumage is rufous, most of the feathers being edged with that colour. Below, it is rufous-brown, with a narrow streak of blackish down the feathers; the quills are black; the tail rufous-brown, deeply forked, and crossed with seven or eight bars of black. The species is found all over Europe, but becomes gradually rarer in the eastern parts.
THE EUROPEAN HONEY-KITE (Pernis apivorus).
This bird is generally known as the Honey-Buzzard, though from the reticulations on the hinder aspect of the tarsus it has evidently nothing to do with those birds, even if its soft and kite-like plumage did not show its affinities to the Kites. Its nostril is also peculiar, and is closed in by a membrane, which doubtless forms a protection from the stings of insects when the bird is attacking a Bee’s or Wasp’s nest. Its habits have been well described by Brehm.[198] This bird is, perhaps, the most timid of all European birds of prey, but is remarkable for its good temper. Its movements are in the highest degree clumsy; its flight is bad, heavy, and slow, and is generally a short one, and the bird shows a great disinclination to rise to any considerable height in the air; in short, its whole bearing evinces the most lazy disposition. It will sit for hours on a stone boundary wall, on a solitary tree or sign-post, or on some other elevated spot, quite contented, watching its prey, which consists of the following:—Insects of all descriptions, Beetles, Caterpillars, Dragon-flies, Gadflies, Worms, Frogs, Snakes, Lizards, and destructive Rodents, which form its principal food; besides which it is very fond of hunting for the nests of the Humble-bee and Wasp, and of feeding on their larvæ. This bird also, unfortunately, destroys the young, and especially the eggs, of such of the smaller birds as it comes across while hunting for insects; this causes it to be looked upon as a disagreeable and hateful enemy by all birds. Crows and Rooks mob the Honey-Buzzard with almost the same eagerness as they chase the Eagle-Owl, and all small birds make a great noise at its appearance. In the summer it also feeds on buds, blossoms, bilberries, other wood-berries, and even leaves. This habit distinguishes it from all other German birds of prey.