OWLS AND DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 350 
Rough Key to Group. 
A.—Size medium ; length 19 or over. 
(1) Adult plumage maroon and white ; tail slightly 
rounded at the end. 
Haliastur indus (Brahminy Kite). 
(2) Plumage streaky brown ; tail forked. 
Milvus govinda (Pariah Kite). 
B.—Size small; length about 12° 50. 
Adult plumage black, white, and gray. 
Elanus ceruleus (Black-winged Kite). 
HALIASTUR INDUS (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 372; 
Legge, p. 76). 
The Brahminy Kite. 
Description.—Adult : Head, neck, flanks, and lower parts 
to the centre of abdomen white with dark brown shaft-lines ; 
rest of plumage chestnut-maroon with the same dark shaft- 
lines, except on the tail ; primaries black, except on the basal 
portion of the inner webs ; the tip and the under surface of 
the tail whitish. 
Young birds are very different ; the upper plumage is earthy-_ 
brown ; the feathers of the head and hind-neck with pale 
tawny tips; the back feathers and wing coverts with pale 
margins ; primaries black ; secondaries and tail dark brown, 
Throat and breast brown with tawny shaft-stripes ; abdomen 
and lower tail coverts with dark shaft-lines. 
In the next stage the head, neck, and breast feathers are 
pale brown with a rufous tinge, and have dark shaft-lines ; 
wing coverts mixed with white ; lower abdomen dull-rufous. 
From this the birds moult into the adult plumage. 
Bill bluish-horn colour ; cere yellowish ; iris brown ; legs 
’ and feet greenish-yellow. 
Male : length about 19; wing 14°75; tail 8:5; tarsus 2; 
middle-toe without claw 1°25; bill from gape 1:4. 
Females are a trifle larger. 
Distribution.—Found all round the coast, and abundant on 
the tanks in the northern and eastern forest tracts ; much 
