-.8 BIRDS OF PREY. 



visited by one or more, according to the numbers in the neighbourhood. As 

 is well known, kites pick up garbage of all kinds, fragments of meat and fish, 

 and generally the refuse of man's food. When a basket of refuse or offal is 

 thrown out into the streets to be carted away, the kites of the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, who appear to be quite cognizant of the usual time at which this is 

 done, are all on the look-out, and dash down on it impetuously, some of them 

 seizing the most tempting morsels by a rapid swoop, others deliberately sitting 

 down on the heaps, along with the dogs and crows, and selecting their scraps. 

 On such an occasion, too, there is many a struggle to retain a larger fragment 

 than usual ; for the possessor no sooner emerges from its 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 to revert to its original proprietor. On such occasions there 

 is a considerable amount of squealing going on. Though it is generally on 

 sufficiently good terms with the crows in company on a heap of garbage, yet 

 I have frequently seen it pursue a crow and force it to relinquish a coveted 

 morsel. The crows, however, often tease a kite, apparently without any object 

 but that of a little amusement to themselves. The food of the kite is usually 

 devoured on the wing, or, if too large, carried to the nearest house or tree. 

 Mr. Blyth notices their collecting in numbers without any apparent object, 

 especially towards evening. This I have frequently observed at all large sta- 

 tions, where all the kites of the neighbourhood, before retiring to roost, appear 

 to hold conclave." — JERDON, " Birds of India." 



The Brahminy Kite {Haliastur Indus) is likewise a native of India, where 

 it abounds on the sea-coasts and in the vicinity of lakes and wet cultivation. 

 These birds are amongst the first objects which attract the eye of a stranger, 

 for they swarm about the shipping in Calcutta, and are useful in removing any 

 offal which may have been thrown away. Nevertheless, though their usual food 

 is carrion, they will kill fish, and not unfrequently carry off a snipe which the 

 sportsman has levelled. About large cities and towns, and where there is much 

 shipping, this kite lives principally upon garbage. Near lakes or rivers it 

 manages to pick up from the surface of the water small fishes, or occasionally 

 a prawn ; but its chief food when away from towns and cantonments is frogs 

 and crabs, which abound in all rice-fields ; indeed, the remains of the latter, 

 picked clean, may be found abundantly along the little bunds that divide the 

 fields from each other: it will also eat water-insects, mice, and shrews. Now 

 and then it gives hot chase to a crow or even a common kite, and forces them 

 to give up some coveted piece of carrion or dead fish. 



The Brahminy kite breeds on trees, making a not very large nest of sticks, 

 sometimes lined with mud. It generally lays only two eggs, which are some- 

 times dirty white, at other times white with a few rusty spots. 



