THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITES. 



^73 



steppes and valleys, certainly does not make it a normal in- 

 habitant of the plains, and its real habitation is the forest, 

 where it breeds, and to which it retires to roost. In the 

 Volga district it never builds anywhere but in trees ; but in 

 the Volga delta, where no oaks nor any other high trees exist, 

 it constructs its nest on the very low trees which sometimes 

 grow amidst reeds. In the wooded parts of Kazan their 

 food consists of young hares, moles, mice, and small birds, 

 and in the towns and villages of garbage. In the river- 

 valleys it preys upon frogs, water-rats, ducks and other water- 

 birds ; but in no case, and in no place, does it despise carrion. 

 Its migration from the province of Kazan commences in Sep- 

 tember, and draws to a close in October. This, however, 

 largely depends upon the weather, as in dry and mild autumns, 

 when there are many mammals on the steppe, it leaves later." 

 Nest. — Made of sticks, and lined with some rubbish and 

 scraps of paper, bits of old clothes and rags, as in the case of 

 the Red Kite. In the Eastern Atlas, Mr. Osbert Salvin states 

 that the nest was usually built amongst the roots of a tree 

 growing out of a rock. Mr. Seebohm adds ; " The nest is 

 often covered with fish-bones, and, according to Ur. Holland, 

 the young are fed on reptiles and small birds. Tlie Black 

 Kite will also rob the nests of other birds, when it is bringing 

 up its young." In Southern Spain, Mr. Howard Saunders 

 has found the species to be gregarious during the nesting- 

 season, and as many as ten nests have been found by him in 

 a small patch of forest. 



Eggs. — Generally two, but as many as five are sometimes 

 found. They are very similar to those of the Red Kite, but 

 they are, as a rule, more distinctly marked than the eggs of 

 the last-named species. The ground-colour is dull white, and 

 the reddish blotches are distributed irregularly over the egg, 

 being sometimes congregated at one end, sometimes at the 

 other. Some eggs are clouded all over with pale cinnamon- 

 brown. Axis, 2'o5-2*3 inches; diam., i'6-i75. 



THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITES. GENUS ELANUS. 



Elamis, Savigny, Syst. Ois. d'Egypte, p. 274 (1809). 

 These are perfectly tropical birds, and, like the Bee-Eaters, 

 are entirely out of place in Great Britain. As, however, the 



