Mr. E. C. Taylor — Egypt Revisited. 53 



unusually large size ; two that I skinned measured fully sixteen 

 inches in length each. 



19. Elanus c^RULEus (Desfontaines). Black-winged Kite. 



Very abundant all the way from Cairo to Assouan, and ex- 

 tremely tame and easy to shoot. Although the birds were 

 paired all through the month of March, I am sorry to say that 

 I did not succeed in finding a nest. I suspect that this species 

 is rather a late breeder. I think that its food consists princi- 

 pally of lizards, small mammals, insects, and occasionally small 

 birds. 



20. MiLVUS ^GYPTius (Gmelin). Egyptian Kite. 



I certainly cannot agree with Dr. Adams, or Mr. S. Allen 

 (Ibis, 1864, pp. 9 and 234) as to the relative abundance of this 

 species and M. miyrans in Egypt ; for I can most positively assert 

 that I have never once seen an adult individual of the latter in 

 that country. I have often shot Kites in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Cairo, and they have always proved, if adult, to be 

 M. cegyptius; as to immatui'e individuals, I can never feel certain 

 to which species they may belong. Our party on the Nile shot 

 a vast number of Kites, all along the Nile valley from Cairo to 

 Assouan, without once procuring an adult specimen of M. 

 migrans. I admit that we sometimes shot young Kites that 

 differed from the usual immature plumage of M. agyptius in 

 being blacker, spotted, and mottled with white, like an imma- 

 ture Aquila ncevia. These 7nay have been immature individuals 

 of M. migi-ans ; but an adult of that species I never once saw in 

 Egypt. I may mention that there are now in the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of London three Kites that were taken from the 

 nest by oneof our party,and reared on board our boat; these birds, 

 which to the best of my recollection were from different nests, 

 have all three turned out to be M. agyptius. These birds were 

 breeding in great numbers in February and March ; I took a 

 great many eggs, of which several were quite white, wdthout any 

 spots. In one nest I found the dried- up carcasses of two rats, 

 which formed part of its lining. These Kites feed freely on 

 carrion ; but I never saw them attempt to take young Pigeons or 

 Chickens, or any other living prey. 



