378 



webs of the quills near the base, forming a conspicuous white 

 patch below the wing, as in Buzzards. As a rule, too, the lower 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts are much paler in M. melanotis 

 than in M. govinda. Some birds, however, appear almost to form 

 a passage between the two. 



Bill bluish ; cere yellowish white ; irides hazel-brown ; legs dull 

 china white ; claws blackish (Oates). 



Length of male about 25 ; tail 13 ; wing 19 to 2O5 ; tarsus 2-2 ; 

 mid-toe without claw 1*6 ; bill from gape 1*75 : females are larger 

 length 27 ; wings 19-25 to 21 '5 ; tail 13'5. 



Distribution. A migratory bird in India, appearing in the 

 Peninsula as far south as Bombay and the Grodavari valley, and in 

 Burma as far as Eangoon, in the cold season. I obtained one near 

 Badrachellam on the Grodavari as late as April. This Kite is 

 found in the Himalayas and throughout Eastern and Central 

 Asia, ranging as far north as Japan and Southern Siberia in 

 summer. 



Habits, $c. Generally a shyer bird, keeping more to jungles 

 and marshes, than the common Indian Kite, though I have seen 

 and killed the large kind from my tent-door, and I shot another 

 sitting on a tree in a small village. The flight is heavier, but 

 otherwise the habits are similar. M. melanotis breeds in the 

 Himalayas from January to May the nest and eggs being 

 precisely similar to those of M. govinda, except that the eggs are 

 slightly larger, averaging about 2*31 by 1*8. 



1231. Milvus migrans. The Black. Kite. 



Falco migrans, Bodd. Tabl. PL Enl p. 28 (1783). 



Falco ater, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 262 (1788). 



Milvus migrans, Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 133 ; Blanf. East. Pers. ii, 

 p. 114 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 344 ; id. Cat. no. 56 quat. ; Barnes, 

 S. F. ix, pp. 215, 452 ; C. Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 100 ; St. John, 

 Ibis, 1889, p. 153. 



This is distinguished from M. govinda by having the edges of 

 the feathers on the crown and nape whitish instead of light brown 

 or rufous, and by the more distinctly ferruginous colour of the 

 abdomen. As a rule, too, there is in the present form little or no 

 mottling or banding on the basal portion of the quills in adults. 



Length of female about 23 ; tail 11 ; wing 17 ; tarsus 2-1 ; bill 

 from gape 1-65. Males are rather smaller. 



Distribution. Africa, Southern Europe, and South-western Asia. 

 The Black Kite only comes within our area, so far as is known, in 

 Southern Afghanistan around Quetta. Capt. Barnes found it 

 breeding about the [Khojak, between Quetta and Kandahar, in 

 March and April. 



Habits, fyc. Similar to those of M. govinda, and this bird haunts 

 towns in the Levant as M. govinda does in India. Similarly in. 

 former times M. ictinus acted as scavenger in London and other 

 European cities. 



