MTLVIN/E. 55 



THE PARIAH KITE. 

 Chil, Hin. 



Length, 22 to 25 ; expanse, 51 to 60 ; wing, 17 to 19 ; tail, 11 

 to 1375 ; tarsus, 2 to 2'25 ; bill from gape, T5 to 1'8, 



The males are generally the smallest, but large males exceed 

 small females in size, so I have not given the measurements of 

 the sexes separately. 



Legs and feet from pale lemon-yellow in young birds to wax- 

 yellow in older ones, pale greenish-grey in very young birds ; 

 claws black ; irides varying from deep brown to pale or yellow- 

 ish-brown ; bill blackish-horny ; cere and gape vary from green- 

 ish-grey in the young to yellow in the old bird. 



Adult : top of the head, back and sides of the neck dingy or 

 pale umber-brown ; the feathers with a narrow dark shaft stripe, 

 and a narrow stripe, towards the tips, on each side of this ; the rest 

 of the upper parts brown, darker on the first few primaries, pahr 

 on the tertials and lesser wing-coverts ; tail tinged grey, and with 

 obscure traces of transverse darker bars ; some of the lesser-coverts, 

 tertials, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers are narrowly but ob- 

 scurely tipped paler ; chin and throat whity-brown ; the shafts darker ; 

 the breast, abdomen, lower tail-coverts, and tibial plumes, dull 

 hair-brown, dark shafted ; those of the breast with narrow, pale 

 stripes on each side of the shaft stripes ; the rest, in most birds, 

 with a pale spot towards the tips. 



Young bird : head, neck, breast, abdomen, and sides umber- 

 brown, each feather broadly streaked fulvous-yellow or buff ; 

 chin and throat dingy-fulvous, some of the feathers inconspi- 

 cuously darker shafted ; back, scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and 

 wing, (except the first few primaries which are almost black) a 

 more or less rich umber-brown, glossed in many cases with purple, 

 and every feather more or less narrowly tipped with fulvous or 

 fulvous-white ; the tail and lower tail-coverts much as in the 

 preceding ; in some specimens the light streaks are almost pure 

 white, in others rufous-buff. 



All intermediate stages are met with ; the changes are not 

 regular, and have no chronological value, and, even amongst 

 adult birds considerable variations occur. 



The Pariah Kite is common everywhere, and is a most impor- 

 tant feature in an Indian landscape. To visitors from England, 

 on their first arrival in Bombay Harbour, (which is literally 

 swarming with these birds) they must appear strange and their 

 numbers incredible, unaccustomed as they (the visitors) are to 

 the presence of birds of prey. They hang round the ships on 

 the eager look-out for scraps of food, which sailors and others 

 amuse themselves by throwing to them ; long before the scrap 

 reaches the water, it is pounced upon by one of the kites, who 

 rarely misses a fair chance. If the scrap be small, it is devoured 

 upon the wing ; if large, the kite perches upon the rigging, but 

 is not allowed to consume the morsel in peace as the other kites 



