22 NESTS AA'D EGGS 01- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



16. — MiLvus AFFiNis, Gould, (21) 



KITE. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, (ol , vol. i., pi. 21. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. i. p. 323. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Ramsay : Proc. Linn. See, N.S. Wales, 

 vol. vii., p. 413 (1SS2) ; North : Austn, Mus. Cat. app. pi. 4, 

 figs. 5, 6 (iSSg) ; Hume : \est.s and Eggs Indian Birds, vol. iii,, 

 p. 176 (i8go) ; Campbell: Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol. vi., p. 431 

 (1895). 



Geuyraphical Distribution. — Australia; also New Guinea and Malayan 

 Ai'cliipelago, ranging as fai- north as India and China. 



Nest. — A somewhat rough structure composed of sticks, hned inside 

 with pieces of sheepskin with wool attached or other substitutes, and 

 situated in a tree or on a bush. Sometimes a deserted nest of another 

 bird of prey is used. 



Eggs.— Chxich., three to four ; round oval in shape ; surface somewhat 

 coarse but lustreless, or almost so ; colour, dtill white, sparingly marked 

 with spots and blotches of reddish-brown ; inside Iming of the shell 

 greenish. Dimensions in inches of a clutch: (1) 2-09 x 1-58, 

 (2) 2-07 X 1-57, (3) 1-98 x 1-54, (4) 1-94 x 1-57. (Plate 2.) 



Obxervations. — I considered the eggs Dr. Ramsay first described as 

 altogether too small for so large a bird ; while the eggs I described, 

 I have reason to beheve now, were not laid by an Alhed Kite at all. 



The set above described are from the Adelaide Museum, and was 

 collected by Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director, November, 1894, 

 duiing the expedition for fossil bones to Callabonna Creek, towards Central 

 Australia. Mr. Zietz kindly forwarded the following note with the 

 specimens: — " Very often both species of Kites — M. affiiiis and L. isura — 

 built their nests in the same tree, about thirty to forty feet from the 

 ground. The nests were built in the strong branches of a species of 

 eucalyptus called ' box-trees,' which grow abundantly in the beds of the 

 creeks. Tlie eggs of both species vary to a great extent in regard to size, 

 shape and markings, but the eggs of the L. isura I found always the 

 largest. In one nest of M. afjinis were six eggs and one 3'oung bird : 

 this nest we had robbed about six weeks previously." 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett, of Yandembah, New South Wales, 

 commimicated exceedingly interesting notes relating to the nidification of the 

 Allied Kite, which appear in the appencUx of the Australian Museum Cata- 

 logue. From one place 1 quote: — "The nest is a rough structure very 

 similar to that of Circus assiinilis (Jard. and Selby), composed outwardly 

 of sticks, and, in the four I have examined, hned with small pieces of 

 .sheepskins with the wool on, picked from carcasses of dead sheep scattered 

 over the plains. The nests are placed, as a rule, on the tops of pine-trees 

 (CaUitris) where the topmost branches divide, forming a three or more 



