THE LARGE JUNGLE-KITE. 203 



Mr. Blyth gives M. govinda from Burmah and states that it is common 

 in the cold season. There is little doubt,, I think, that Mr. Blyth did not 

 consider M. affinis worthy of separation from M. govinda. No specimen 

 of this latter has ever heen procured in Burmah so far as I am aware. At 

 one time I thought that M . govinda did occur in Pegu ; but I am now of 

 opinion that all the specimens I procured in that Division are referable to 

 the smaller M. affinis. These two Kites are not always easy to separate : 

 M. affinis is, as a rule, smaller, and has barely any white under the wing ; 

 and I am not aware that any other differences between the two species 

 have ever been pointed out. 



The Smaller House-Kite is generally distributed over the Province, being 

 rare only in the southern half of Tenasserim. 



It extends through the Indo-Burmese countries into India and is found 

 over a considerable portion of that country. It ranges down the Malay 

 peninsula, and occurs in all the islands as far as Australia. 



This common Kite is generally found in the neighbourhood of houses 

 and also of isolated huts in the jungle where garbage is abundant. It dis- 

 appears from June to September, and its return is usually a sign that the 

 rains are nearly over. It makes a nest of sticks in trees and lays three 

 eggs, which are white blotched with rusty. The breeding-season lasts from 

 January to March. 



577. MILVUS MELANOTIS. 

 THE LARGE JUNGLE-KITE. 



Milvus melanotis, Temm. et Sclileg. Faun. Jap., Ares, p. 14, pis. 5, 5 B j Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 324 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 1C ; Anders. Yunnan 

 Exped. p. 574 j Gurney, Ibis, 1879, p. 80 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82 j Oates, S. F. 

 x. p. 181. Milvus major, Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 320 ; id. Nests and Eggs, 

 p. 54 j id. S. F. i. p. 160. Milvus govinda, apud Brooks, S. F. iii. p. 229. 



Description. Male and female. The whole body-plumage with the upper 

 wing-coverts rufous-brown, each feather with a dark shaft-line, the 

 portion adjacent to this line being paler than the other parts of the webs ; 

 scapulars brown, edged with rufous ; secondaries, tertiaries and the later 

 primaries brown, obsoletely barred and the bases mottled with white; 

 earlier primaries black, each with a large patch of pure white on the inner 

 web near the base; tail rufous, distinctly barred across with about eight 

 lines of brown ; ear-coverts blackish brown ; vent and under tail-coverts 

 plain fulvous. 



Young. Head, neck, shoulders and lower plumage down to the abdomen 

 dark brown, each feather with a longitudinal streak of buff down the 



