Birds of Luck now. 75 



who go near their nests. On two or three occasions they 

 have knocked off my climber's cap, and once a pair gave me 

 much trouble, even chasing me after I had descended the 

 tree. Another Kite was reported to have stuck its claws 

 into a boy. Whether correct or not, the fact remained 

 that the Kite hatched her eggs undisturbed. 



All the nests that I have seen, and I have seen hundreds, 

 have been placed on trees, in some thick fork and usually not at 

 the very top, by which fact they may easily be distinguished 

 from those of Eagles. They are bulky stick structures, lined 

 with mud and rags, and, in more than one instance, I have 

 found large bits of brick and kunker alongside of the eggs. 

 These are nearly always two in number, though I have taken 

 four. In colour they are white, sometimes but little marked, 

 but usually more or less heavily blotched and splashed with 

 varying shades of red and brown. 



Average of 12 f Lucknow eggs 219"xl'70" 



Measurement of largest egg 2-.30" x 1-74" 



„ smallest egg 1-99" x 1.^" 



Reid speaks cf this bird breeding indiscriminately en 

 "trees, mosques, minarets, old buildings, &c./' but I have 

 never seen a nest that was not on the first-named. 



No. 1230. *Milvus melanotis. Lar (j <e Indian Kite. 



An occasional winter visitor, but I think very rare. Its 

 larger size and the conspicuous white patch on the inner 

 webs of the quills near the base serve to distinguish it from 

 M. ffovinda. The only specimen that I secured was a female, 

 which I shot as it rose from a low dhak-tree by the Mohan - 

 lalganj jheel, Jan. 18, 1900. There is also a skin in the 

 Museum from Hardoi. 



No. 1232. Elanus Czeruleus. Black-whvjed Kite. 



Masunwa [H.]. 



Not numerous, but a permanent resident. I have chieflv 

 seen it in the neighbourhood of those jheels which are more 

 or less surrounded with heavy grass and dhak-junglc. Reid 



t Reid's measurements have evidently been mislead by the printers. 



