THE KITES, BUZZARDS AND HARRIERS. 17 



breast are pure white, while all the rest of the 

 plumage is of a rich chestnut colour. Young birds 

 are of a more earthy hue and have not white heads, 

 but even in that stage they can be distinguished at 

 a glance from Common Kites by their tails, which 

 are not forked, but rounded. For the avoidance of 

 family brawls nature seems to have assigned separate 

 portions to these two birds, giving the refuse of the 

 land to the one and the refuse of the water to the 

 other. It is not that one eats flesh and the other 

 fish. Nothing that goes overboard from a ship 

 comes amiss to the Brahminy, and the Common 

 Kite will snatch fish from the very basket on a 

 woman's head. But the one likes to pick its food off 

 the water and the other off the ground. So the one 

 haunts the harbour, while the other takes charge of 

 the bazaar. I do not say that they never invade 

 each other's preserves. Both build on trees about 

 the beginning of the year, and generally lay two 

 eggs, which are white, spotted with reddish-brown. 

 The Common Kites go to Poona, with Government, 

 for the monsoon months. In Bombay there are 

 always some that do not manage to get away, but 

 down the coast I have looked in vain for a Common 

 Kite from the beginning of June till the end of 

 August. When they return there is for some weeks 

 much squealing and quarrelling until the boundaries 

 of each one's beat are fixed and the usurpations of 

 crows and Brahminies repelled. The Brahminies 

 do not go away. They like water even in the form 

 of rain. 



The Buzzards and Harriers follow close upon the 

 Kites. This is not exactly Jerdon's order, but one of 



