File:Stories about birds of land and water (1874) (14750509722).jpg

Identifier: storiesaboutbird00kirb (find matches)
Title: Stories about birds of land and water
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Kirby, Mary, 1817-1893 Kirby, Elizabeth, 1823-1873
Subjects: Birds -- Juvenile literature
Publisher: Hartford (Conn.) : American Publishing Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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at arebeginning to be a scourge, and for this very useful act one should think theinhabitants ought to be grateful. The kites build their nest in the thick boughs of the bay-tree, and herethey rear their young. They are devoted parents, and feed and tend thelittle kites until they are able to get their own living. A mother kite once took her young one in her claws, and carried it out ofthe reach of a sun that was beino; fired from below. THE BUZZARD. The buzzard is a relation of the falcon, as you can see by the curve in hisbeak. And you can tell pretty much what kind of a life he leads by the atti-tude in which he stands. He has the same habits as the kite, and has been. THE BUZZARD AND ITS PREY. 39 flying over and over the ground in a slow and steady manner, looking for prey.He eats worms and mice, and even little birds when he can get them. Onthis occasion he spied a rat running along the ground, and at once struck itdown with his talons. Like the hawk, he kills with a single blow.
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^■O -^^.v ^^^^—\ I THE COMMON, OR MOUSE BUZZARD. When he has finished his meal, he will retire to the branch of a tree, orto the ledge of a rock, and repose until he has digested it. Then he will issueforth again, and sweep over the country, or sail about with his wings expandedto their fullest extent. Then he looks very much like the eagle. His nest is built in a tree, or else on the shelf of a rock. It is made of 40 STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. sticks and twigs and heath, and has a rude hning of wool. While the motherbird is sitting, her partner is very attentive to her wants, and is constantly-bringing her food. In some parts of Scotland the buzzard is very rare, though we often seehim in England. But now and then the Scotch farmer sees a bird hunting about in thefields, with a wavering, uncertain flight, and making all kinds of turns andtwists. Soon he observes it drop down suddenly on some unwary preybeneath, and he knows that it is the buzzard. He ought to feel a friendshipfor the b

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