204 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



centre, the shafts being brown ; upper wing- and tail-coverts brown tipped 

 with buff ; abdomen, vent, under tail-coverts and the thighs creamy buff, 

 shading off into brown on the margins of the feathers ; scapulars and quills 

 dark brown, all tipped with fulvous, the earlier primaries with a large 

 patch of white on the inner webs and the other quills more or less mottled 

 with white on the inner webs ; tail dark brown, tipped with fulvous white 

 and obsoletely barred. 



Bill bluish ; cere yellowish white ; iris hazel-brown ; legs dull china- 

 white ; claws blackish. 



Length 25 inches, tail 12'5, wing 18'5, tarsus 2'1, bill from gape T65. 

 The female is considerably larger, the wing being about 21 inches and the 

 tail 13-5. 



The young bird is described from a nestling just able to fly procured in 

 Ningpo by Mr. Swinhoe in May 1872 and now in Mr. Seebohm's collec- 

 tion. It is not until the bird is very aged that it exhibits the rich rufous 

 coloration described, and the majority of specimens are in brown plumage. 

 The rufous appears first on the upper plumage, and the transition from the 

 spotted young to the rufous adult is very gradual. 



This species is of course very distinct from M. affinis ; but it is not 

 always easy to separate it from specimens of the Indian species 

 (M. govindd) until quite adult. As a rule, M. melanotis is very much 

 larger and has a very extended patch of white at the base of the primaries 

 on the underside of the wing. Some specimens from India, however, 

 which from their size should be M. govinda, have nearly as much white on 

 the wing as some specimens of M. melanotis from China ; but I have 

 never seen a specimen of the former with the rich rufous coloration of 

 adult M. melanotis. 



The Large Jungle- Kite is common in the southern parts of Pegu, in the 

 large grass-plains between the Pegu and Sittang rivers, from October to 

 February, arid probably till later. 



It occurs in the Indo-Burmese countries and in the peninsula of India, 

 and it ranges through China to Japan. 



This large Kite, distinguishable at a glance when flying by the large 

 patch of white on the underside of the wing, is of rather a shy nature, 

 keeping to the jungles and to very small clusters of houses where large 

 fishing- operations are carried on. In these latter places large numbers 

 may be seen, and, if not molested, they are very tame, sitting on the roofs 

 of houses and on the stakes of the fishing-nets. I have never met with its 

 nest ; but as in India it breeds in the cold season, it will probably be 

 found to breed in Burmah in January or February. 



