FALCONID^. 21 



The irides are deep bright orange ; the bill yellow at 

 the base, the remainder being bluish black ; the legs are 

 yellow. 



Measurements of a male and a female : — 



29. Milvus migrans (Bodd.). Black Kite. 



Milmis ater, Gould's Birds of Europe, pi. 29. 



„ „ Layard's Cat. No. 3G. 



,, „ Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 392. 

 Milvus migrans, Newton's Edition of Yarrell's Br. Birds, vol. i. p. 98. 



The Black Kite appears in Damara and Great Nama- 

 qua Land with the first rains or even before ; the earliest 

 arrival that I have noticed was on the 24th August, or 

 about two months before any rain would fall. Usually 

 it arrives in October and November : at first only a few 

 individuals make their appearance ; but in a few days 

 their name is legion; indeed this Kite and its con- 

 gener, the Yellow-billed Kite, are then more abundant 

 than almost any other species of bird. In 1866 the first 

 Kites were unusually late, and did not appear till the 

 23rd December. The Black Kite is a very bold and 

 fearless bird; it is by no means an uncommon occur- 

 rence for it to swoop down under your very nose and 

 carry off the meat set before you, and I have even 

 known it to snatch a piece of flesh out of a person's 



