100 FALCONID.E. 



of rags, wool and other soft materials, while on the surrounding- 

 branches are fantastically hung old pieces of Arab clothing of 

 various colours. In southern Spain, according to Mr, Howard 

 Saunders, it exhibits sociable qualities, and a comparatively 

 small patch of wood will contain ten nests or more, while 

 when building apart it has always an accompanying colony 

 of Sparrows. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley state that two pairs 

 of Black Kites had made their nests on a high plane-tree in 

 one of the busiest streets of Pera, and seemed quite insensible 

 to the noise which was going on all day around them. The 

 same observers also remark that the nest of this species is 

 very small. The eggs are two in number, and much re- 

 semble those of the Red Kite already described. Mr. Salvin 

 and Canon Tristram state that examples procured by them 

 are more distinctly and deeply marked, but it seems doubtful 

 whether they ever attain the varied and beautiful tints ex- 

 hibited by some northern and especially British specimens 

 belonging to that species. They measure from 2*17 to 1*94 

 by 1'75 to 1*53 in., and are hatched in April or May. 



The geographical distribution of the Black Kite is exten- 

 sive. Though not found in Norway, Sweden, or Finland, in 

 Russia it reaches as far to the north as Archangel and thence 

 across Siberia, becoming rarer to the eastward and hardly 

 observed, according to Pallas, beyond the Lena. Some of 

 the modern Russian naturalists consider the Milvns melanotis 

 of Eastern Siberia, Japan and China to be identical with 

 M. migrans, and extend the limits of the latter accordingly, 

 but the former is regarded by Mr. Gurney and other high 

 authorities as quite distinct, being larger and sometimes 

 nearly as rufous as M. ictinus. To the south-east and 

 south two other species, which have much the same 

 appearance, represent M. mifirans; these are M. affinis, 

 which ranges from Chusan to Australia, besides occurring 

 in India, and .V. govincla, the common " Pariah Kite " 

 of that country, in which the true Black Kite is not found, 

 though a specimen from Affghanistan in the East India 

 Museum is, according to Mr. Gurney, referable to M. 

 Diinraiis. This last is said, by Pallas, to winter in Persia. 



