ELANUS C^EULEUS 123 



often chosen as a site for this bird's nest, which is a mass of sticks 

 roughly put together and lined with a little wool or hair. Two eggs 

 are generally laid and vary considerably in colour and marking, the 

 ground colour being white, or greenish-white, more rarely very pale 

 blue, and the spots, streaks and blotches, are reddish-brown. The 

 average measurements are 55 X 41 mm. 



Baron v. Erlanger has separated the Black Kite of Tunisia from 

 typical M. migrans (Bodd), under the name of Milvus korschun 

 reichenowi, on account of its supposed smaller size and different 

 colour ; but after comparing a fair series of Tunisian specimens with 

 examples from various parts of Europe, I fail to find sufficient grounds 

 for this separation. It is true that individuals of this species from 

 some parts of Eastern Europe are rather larger than the generahty of 

 Tunisian birds, but those from Western Europe are, as a rule, iden- 

 tical in size with the latter and cannot be separated from them. 

 Among specimens from the same country, moreover, there is a certain 

 amount of individual variation in size. With regard to the colour of 

 the plumage and marking, there is also considerable variation between 

 individuals, but this is probably due to age and season, and I cannot 

 find any constant difference in this respect between Tunisian 

 examples, and those from Europe. 



Canon Tristram [Ihis, 1859, p. 290), and Loche (Expl. Scient. Alg. 

 Ois. i, p. 78) both include the Egyptian Kite (il/. agyptiiis) in their 

 lists of Birds of Algeria, but they were probably in error in doing this, 

 as that species does not seem to occur anywhere in North-west Africa, 

 although it is apparently common further south in West Africa. 



ELANUS CffiRULEUS (Desfontaines). 

 BLACK- WINGED KITE. 



Falco caeruleus, Dcsf. Mem. Acad. B. des Sciences, 1787, p. 503, pi. 15. 

 Elanus caeruleus, Strickland Orn. Syn., p. 137 (1855) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 



Brit. Mils, i, p. 336 ; Loclia, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 80 (1867) ; 



Wliital-cr, Ibis, 1895, p. 103 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1898, p. 402. 

 Falco (Nauclerus) melanopterus, Malherbe, Faune Orn. de I'Alg. p. 7 



(1855). 

 Elanus melanopterus, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 159 ; id. J. /. 0. 1892, 



p. 846. 



