MILVUS. 



Milvus cheela, apud Jcrdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. x, p. 71 (1839) ; nee 



Falco cheela, Lath. 



Milvus ater, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 31 ; nee Falco ater, Gm. 

 . S. 



Milvus affinis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 140 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, 



p. 400 ; uingnam, at. f. ix, p. 140 ; uates, tf. 4. x, p. J 

 B. B. ii, p. 202 ; id. in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 176. 



Milvus palustris, Anderson, P. A. S. B. 1873, p. 143 ; id. P. Z. S. 

 1875, p. 25. 



Chil, H. ; //, at Chamba ; Malta gedda, Tel. ; Paria prandu, Kalu 

 pi'andu, Tarn. ; Genda, Mhari ; Rajaliya, Cing. ; Zoon, Burm. 



Fig. 93. Head of M. govinda, f . 



Coloration. Adult. Above brown, median wing-coverts lighter 

 and dark-shafted, the crown and hind-neck paler, tawny or rufous, 

 not whitish, with blackish shaft-stripes ; a patch behind the eye, 

 including the ear-coverts, uniform dark brown ; first five primaries 

 and larger primary-coverts blackish, later primaries and second- 

 aries coloured like back; all the quills more or less mottled with 

 whitish on the inner webs towards the base, and banded with 

 blackish-brown cross-bars ; tail brown above, whity brown below, 

 with numerous darker cross-bands, faint and obsolete in some 

 (probably old) birds ; lower parts rather paler than upper, whitish 

 at the chin, and generally, but not always, becoming tinged with 

 nifous on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts, and always dark- 

 shafted throughout, with pale or rufous stripes on each side of the 

 dark shaft-lines ; lower wing-coverts like breast, except the larger 

 coverts, which are ashy brown with pale bands. 



Young birds have broad buff or white shaft- stripes to the 

 feathers of the head (except the ear-coverts), neck, and lower 

 surface, and buff or whitish tips to the feathers of the back, wing- 

 coverts, scapulars, secondaries, and tail-feathers. 



Bill black ; cere and gape yellow in old birds, greenish grey in 

 the young ; irides brown ; legs and feet yellow, pale greenish grey 

 in young birds ; claws black (Hume). 



Length of females about 24 : tail 12 ; wing 18-5 ; tarsus 2*1 ; 

 mid-toe without claw 1*6 ; bill from gape 1*7 : males are smaller 

 length about 12-5 ; wing 17'5. But birds from Southern India, 



