VULTURES, EAGLES, ETC. 249 



clamorous cries as they flew in bewildering mazes 

 over the water, or sat about among the branches 

 of all the surrounding trees. Every now and then 

 one of the moving crowd would suddenly stoop to 

 sweep along over the surface of the pond, and rise 

 again grasping a little, glittering fish, which he 

 either carried off to be devoured at leisure on a 

 tree, or disposed of while on the wing just as 

 common kites do when hawking in a swarm of 

 white ants. 



The presence of Brahmini kites is at once revealed 

 by their peculiar cries. These are very distinct from 

 those of the common kite, and have a peculiarly 

 querulous quality, causing them to sound like a 

 combination of the mewing of a cat with the squall 

 of an ill-tempered child. They are very plucky 

 birds, and I have seen one of them fiercely attack- 

 ing a sea-eagle. In Calcutta the common kites 

 evidently regard them as intruders, and frequent 

 battles occur in which the combatants strike viciously 

 at one another, amid a tempest of whistling and 

 mewing. The Brahminis, in spite of their smaller 

 size, are sometimes the aggressors in these feuds, 

 and often come out of them victorious. The local 

 crows also regard them as intruders, and are inclined 

 to mob them as they do eagles, and in a way that they 

 never dream of doing in the case of common kites. 

 Brahmini kites never build within the limits of 

 Calcutta, and I have never seen any of their nests 



