106 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



swoop, than several empty-clawed spectators instantly pursue it 

 eagerly, till the owner finds the chase too hot, and drops the bone of 

 contention, which is generally picked up long before it reaches the 

 ground, again and again to change owners, and perhaps finally revert 

 to its original proprietor. On such occasions there is a considerable 

 amount of squealing going on. 



The vast numbers of these Kites in large towns can hardly be 

 realised by strangers. Capt. Irby mentions having seen one 

 hundred too'ether, but in Calcutta and elsewhere two or three 

 hundred may be seen at one time. They are excessively bold and 

 fearless, often snatching morsels off a dish en route from kitchen to 

 hall, and even, according to Adams, seizing a fragment from a man's 

 very mouth ; and several anecdotes illustrative of this are told by 

 different observers, — vide Blyth, Sykes, Adams, and Burgess. At 

 oar sea ports many Kites find their daily sustenance among the 

 shipping, perching freely on the rigging, and, in company with the 

 Brahminy Kite, which rarely enters towns, snatching scraps of refuse 

 from the surface of the water. 



Away from the haunts of man, some seek their reptile or insect 

 food over the fields and hedgerows, or, with the Brahminy Kites, 

 hunt the edges of tanks, rivers, and marshes, for frogs, crabs, 

 and fish. 



The flight of the Indian Kite is bold, easy, and graceful when 

 once mounted aloft, though somewhat heavy on first taking wing ; 

 and it soars slowly about, in greater or less numbers, in large circles. 

 When in pursuit of another Kite it is capable of considerable speed, 

 and shows great dexterity in suddenly avoiding any obstacle, and 

 changing its course ; in this, its long tail is, of course, a great help. 

 Occasionally one may be seen dropping down almost perpendicu- 

 larly from the top of a house on a piece of offal in a narrow 

 street, but, in general, it reaches the ground from a height by a 

 series of oblique plunges. 



Now and then one will seize a chicken or wounded bird of any 

 kind, and Mr. Blyth mentions that he once knew one to kill a 

 full-grown hen. Mr. Phillips says it is " a very cowardly bird ; 

 for though it will carry off parrots and chickens, it is yet afraid of 



