62 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



HALIASTUR INDUS INDUS (Boddaert) 



Indian Brahminy Kite 



Falco Indus Boddaert, Table des planches enlumineez d'histoire naturelle, 

 17S3, p. 25 (Pondieherry, ex D'Aubenton, pi. 416, and Buffon, vol. 1, p. 490). 



Haliastur Indus, Gyldenstople, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 128 

 (Nong Mae Rua). 



Haliastur Indus Indus, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 747 ("Northern Siam"). — 

 de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, p. 578 (Chiang 

 Mai); 1934, p. 270 (Chiang Mai).— Deign an, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 Suppl., 1931, p. 166 (Chiang Mai) ; 1936, p. 76 (Chiang Mai). 



The Brahminy kite is very common, especially along the larger 

 rivers and on the great marshes, and is a familiar bird in towns and 

 villages. At Chiang Mai it was present throughout the year except 

 during the month of April, when it was rare or absent. In January 

 1936 I took specimens at Chiang Mai, Ban Sop Mae Chaem, and 

 Ban Thung Som Poi. Gyldenstolpe collected one in August near 

 Chiang Saen, and I recorded it at Phayao in August 1929. 



This kite is always to be seen from the bridges at Chiang Mai, in 

 winter accompanied by Milvus, with which it shares the refuse float- 

 ing down the river. A common call, sometimes uttered while circling 

 high in the air, is a shrill chee — aaaaa. At nightfall it repairs to 

 some solitary tree in the ricefields and roosts together with others 

 of its kind. I knew such a tree near the river below Chiang Mai 

 which was used by the kites at least for several years. 



Gyldenstolpe's specimen from Mae Rua had the irides brownish 

 yellow ; the bill yellowish green ; the feet yellow. 



The Brahminy kite has the wing and tail rounded. When adult, 

 it has the plumage bright red-brown, with the head, neck, upper 

 back, and forehalf of the underparts white (with blackish shaft 

 streaks) and the apical half of the wing black. The immature bird 

 has the head, neck, and underparts dull light brown, redder on the 

 lower abdomen ; the apical half of the wing blackish ; the rest of the 

 plumage dark brown. 



The only northern specimens extant are from Chiang Mai and 

 Chiang Rai Provinces, and these are quite typical indus, agreeing 

 perfectly with specimens from India in the heavy streaking of the 

 head and underparts. 



ACCIPITER GENTILIS KHAMENSIS (Bianchi) 



Tibetan Goshawk 



Astur palumoarius khamensis Bianchi, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 16, 1906, pp. 

 70-71 ("in terra Kham dicta, Tibet, merid.-orient." ; type from "basin of the 

 headwaters of Mekong, Lun-tok-ndo, north of Charndo, southeastern Tibet," 

 fide Sushkin, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 39, 1928, p. 27; locality 

 further limited to the Re-tschu river, a pud Kirke Swann). 



