Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue of Accipitres. 79 



though its right to that title has of late been challenged"^, 

 and it is not easy to say with certainty whether these small 

 Kites of India and Ceylon are more correctly referable to M. 

 affinis or to M.govinda. With reference to this subject, how- 

 ever, it may be convenient here to quote a portion of the 

 remarks of the editor of ' Stray Feathers ' at p. 35 of the 

 volume for 1875 ; Mr. Hume there writes, " The following 

 are approximately the variations in the sizes of the wing of 

 the three races which we have in India : — 



in. in. in. in. 



affinis, wings, male, 16-75 to 17-25, female 17 to 17-75 

 govmda, „ „ 17'9 „ 18-5, „ 18-1 „ 19*5 

 major, „ „ 19 „ 20-5, „ 19-25 „ 21-5 



the two former, affinis and govinda, inosculate, so 



that while some Indian specimens are absolutely identical 

 with the Australian affinis, others may be met with which it 

 is difficult to decide whether to assign to govinda or affinis." 



Mr. Hume again observes, in a footnote to p. 229 of ' Stray 

 Feathers' for 1875, ^'According to Mr. Brooks's views we 

 have only two Kites in India ; in my opinion we have most 

 distinctly three, viz. affinis, Gould, comparatively rare, but 

 more plentiful to the south and east ; govinda, Sykes, the 

 common Kite everywhere ; and major (or it may be mela- 

 notis), rare except in the hills, found on the plains chiefly in 

 the cold weather, and almost, if not entirely, unknown in 

 Southern India" f. 



In the first of the two passages above referred to, Mr. 

 Hume speaks of M. affinis as occurring in Upper Pegu ; and 

 in ' Stray Feathers ' for 1878, p. 23, he enumerates it amongst 

 the birds of Tenasserim. 



The Kite for which Mr. Hume retains the specific name 

 of govinda appears to be that which is alluded to in the fol- 



* See Mr. Brooks's remarks in ' Stray Feathers ' for 1876, p. 272 ; but 

 see also Mr. Hume's footnote referring to tlie same, and his previous foot- 

 note in ' Stray Feathers ' for 1875, p. 22, also Captain Legge's observa- 

 tions on this controversy at p. 82 of his work on the Birds of Ceylon. 



t Since writing this article, I have seen the valuable observations of 

 Mr. Gates on these three Kites as observed in Lower Pegu, contained in 

 ' Stray Feathers ' for 1878, p. 44, to which I would refer the reader. 



