136 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



this Kite is built in a variety of situations depending a 

 good deal upon the kind of accommodation afforded. In 

 some districts trees are the favourite situation, sometimes 

 very low ones growing amongst reeds, as recorded by 

 Bogdanow, in the delta of the Volga, and sometimes 

 amongst the roots of trees growing out of cliffs, as 

 recorded by Mr. Salvin in Algeria, in the Eastern Atlas. 

 In other districts a ledge or shelf or crevice of a cliff is 

 selected ; in others a ruin or a tower. The nest varies 

 somewhat in size, the smallest apparently being made in 

 Southern Russia, where Goebel states that the head and 

 tail of the sitting bird project over each side of the 

 structure. Larger nests measure a yard or more across. 

 The nest is rather flat, and composed externally of sticks, 

 and lined with dry moss, paper, and rags, usually in a 

 more or less filthy condition. Captain Verner also found 

 a mixture of dry dung as well as paper in the lining. 

 Coloured rags and papers are frequently preferred. 

 When disturbed from the nest the old birds fly round 

 and round above the spot uttering shrill, tremulous cries 

 of alarm. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Black Kite are from two to five in 

 number, but the latter is very exceptional. In Prussia and 

 Spain two is the normal clutch, in Southern Russia three. 

 They vary in ground colour from white to the palest 

 perceptible blue, spotted and blotched with rich reddish- 

 brown and pale brown, and with underlying m.arkings 

 of lilac-gray. They are subject to much variation both 

 in the intensity and the character of the markings. On 

 some eggs large blotches and splashes of dark brown 

 occur intermingled with spots and streaks of lighter 

 brown ; on others the markings are very minute and 

 dusted over the entire surface, most numerous round the 

 larger end ; others are clouded and washed with pale 



