22 BIRDS OF DAMAEA LAND. 



hand. It attacks birds much its superior in size and 

 strength, either with the view of depriving them of 

 their prey or from sheer pugnacity. The chief food of 

 this species consists of carrion and offals ; hut it devours 

 with equal relish fish, mice, lizards, snakes, insects of 

 all kinds, especially locusts, and not unfrequently it 

 also proves destructive to young poultry. 



The irides are brown, the bill black, the tarsi and 

 feet lemon-yellow. 



Measurements of a male : 



in. lin. 



Entire length ........ 20 3 



Length of folded wing ..... 15 10 



tarsus ....... 20 



middle toe ...... 15 



tail ........ 91 



[Mr. Andersson's last collection contained specimens of this 

 Kite from Ondonga, in both adult and immature plumage ; the 

 specimens in apparently adult dress did not, however, exhibit the 

 grey tints on the head which distinguish the adult Black Kites of 

 Europe and of Northern Africa, but which I have not yet met 

 with in any South-African specimen. ED.] 



30. MIIVUS Forskahli (Gmel.). Yellow-billed Kite. 



Le Parasite, Levaillant's Ois. d'Afr. pi. 22. 



Milvus parasiticus, Strickland & Sclater, Birds Damar., Cont. Orn. 



1852, p. 142. 



Milvus Forskahli, Strickland's Ornitholog. Synonyms, No. 226. 

 Milvus parasiticus, Layard's Oat. No. 37. 

 Milvus cegyptius, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 392. 

 Milvus Forskali, Finsch & Hartlaub's Vogel Ost-Afrika's, p. 63. 



What has been said of the Black Kite will equally 

 apply to this species, which, however, is probably the 



