Don’t throw away a kite because it has to have a tail. The tail is sometimes the most beautiful part. CHAPTER III. KINDS OF KITES. Kites are so numerous in kinds and design nowadays that, in order to get at any kind of intelligent discussion of them, it will be necessary to segregate them into classes and varieties as the scientist does in his investigations of nature study. There is the great big subject of constructive sport called kite making. The name kite strikes joy to any live boy’s heart and it does him good too. But kite making is too big, so we will try running some cross-roads thru, thus dividing it into smaller groups. A large number of kites can be classed together as having the same general make-up and we will call the first, Class A, Plain Surface Kites. These kites have one general surface without any built out parts, and can be subdivided into two divisions: 1. Geometric and regular forms, 2. Irregular and representative forms. There are two divisions of the geometric and regular forms: a. Tailless kites. b. Kites with tails, regular in form. The two divisions of irregular forms are: a. Set pieces of design. b. Insect, bird, animal, and man kites. This brings the analysis for Class A down to variety which will be discussed in succeeding chapters. Class B. Box-Kites, has six subdivisions: 1. Square. 2. Rectangular. 3. Triangular. 4. Cylindrical. 5. Hexagonal. 6. Tetrahedral. Class C. Combined Kites. Box-kites may have additions of plain surfaces, or combinations of curved surfaces and plain ones, giving shapes that represent hollow forms of fish, animals, etc. 1. Straight extensions of plain surfaces. 2. Hollow shapes representing animal and mechanical forms. Class D. Kites in Series. These are made up of combined kites also, but the combinations are so different that they belong in a class by themselves. 1. Compound kites. 2. Kites in tandem. a. Connected directly to one line. b. Connected by individual lines of some length to one main line. 3. Dragon Kites. The plain kites are the more numerous for several reasons. They are more easily constructed, take less time, use less material, fly in lighter breeze, and are usually more stable in air. The construction as a rule consists of two or three sticks as a framework with a covering stretched over it so as to form a simple plane that is exposed to the breeze. Of course, there are tricks in making the plain kites, but almost any of them can be made to fly by either warping the surface or attaching a tail.