Watch the Kite.
A special plea—and a very persuasive coloured picture— has been sent out by the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds to ask landowners and others to take particular care to protect the kite, that glorious hawk, which is certainly endeavouring to return to old haunts, especially in the West of England. Where do the colonizing kites come from? It is a curious incident that one pair, from whom much was expected, proved to be of great antiquity. They were too old to breed though they built a nest. Disaster has befallen other pairs in the last few years from various causes : from the gun, the camera and the egg collector. A way of counter- ing the too greedy oologist is for a friendly hand to mark the eggs in the nest with indelible ink ; but in one instance at any rate the eggs of a rare hawk so marked were found broken below the nest with an angry note by the collector alongside. Close and continuous watching is the one way of salvation.
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