1964 



THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



that remorseless activity characteristic of the genus, pursuing pigeons, until the ter- 

 rified birds, worn out by exertion, sink exhausted, and are dispatched by the enemy. 

 Nor is this all: the fisherman has to keep a good lookout when he lands his net, as 

 one or other is sure to be on the lookout for the small fry. They dispute the own- 

 ership of a bone with the lean pariah dog, or pick up refuse floating down the river; 

 they hover over the farmer as he plows his field, and are the dread of a village from 



EGYPTIAN OR YELLOW- BILLED KITE. 

 ( One-fourth natural size. ) 



the number of chickens they pilfer. The nest is built in the top of a palm tree, 

 where the Nubians catch them in traps baited with pigeons. ' ' 



In India and the Himalayas the black kite is replaced by the smaller pariah or 

 govind kite (M. govinda], the chil of the natives, distinguished by the well-marked 

 patch of white at the base ot the primaries. There is, however, in India another 

 and larger species (M. melanotis], measuring upward of twenty-five and one-half 

 inches in length, against twenty in the smaller species, and also distinguished 

 by some differences in coloration, this larger species ranging eastward to China,. 



