338 BLACK KITE. 



province of Archangel down to the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. 

 In Asia it breeds as far east as Southern Afghanistan, though as a 

 rule the representative species beyond the Ural Mountains are 

 M. govinda and M. inelanotis. In Egypt the resident bird is the 

 yellow-billed M. cBgyptius, but in winter the Black Kite visits South 

 Africa and INIadagascar (Newton). It breeds in Africa north of the 

 Atlas, and is resident in the Cape Verde Islands. 



The eggs, seldom laid before the beginning of May, are usually 

 2 in number, similar in appearance to those of the Red Kite, but 

 rather smaller. The nest is frequently placed in a crag in Algeria, 

 particularly one studded with bushes or scrub ; in Europe, towers, 

 ruins, and especially trees — even in populous towns like Pera — are 

 selected, and in Spain I have found ten or more nests in a small 

 patch of marshy wood. At Bayonne the Black Kite may often be seen 

 crossing the streets and steering its way among the telegraph wires, 

 or picking up offal and small fish from the river Adour. The latter, 

 which it often devours while on the wing, are favourite food ; also 

 reptiles, frogs, grasshoppers, small birds and mammals. 



The adult male has the throat and forehead whitish and the 

 crown pale rufous, streaked with black ; mantle umber-brown ; tail 

 rather rufous-brown with blackish bars ; under parts rufous-brown, 

 especially the flanks ; bill black. Length 24 in. ; wing 18 in. The 

 female is slightly larger. The young bird is paler in colour, and 

 the upper feathers have pale edges. The term ' Black ' is not 

 inapplicable to this bird as observed flying, when the dark under- 

 surfaces of the wings and the general sombre hue of the plumage 

 are noticeable ; the tail is much less forked than in the Red Kite. 



An example of the American Swallow-tailed Kite, Elanoides 

 furcatus, was taken alive during a heavy thunderstorm, near Hawes 

 in Yorkshire, on September 6th 1805, but afterwards made its 

 escape, and there is ground for suspecting that it had previously 

 been in confinement. There are other records of the occurrence in 

 Great Britain of this chiefly Neo-tropical species, but none of these 

 are, to my mind, satisfactory, and the species has never occurred on 

 the Continent. 



I have examined an immature specimen of the Black-winged 

 Kite, Elanus cccrukus, said to have been shot about 1862, in co. 

 Meath ; but it was unrecognized for ten years, and the evidence is 

 insufficient. The species is semi-tropical. In the Museum at 

 Dieppe is (or was) a specimen said to have been obtained on 

 September ist 1841, after a gale from the south-west. 



