MILVINJ:. 57 



is not a little to be wondered at. A pair of kites with their hungry 

 brood are not desirable neighbours near a poultry yard. I am 

 inclined to think that they have two broods in a year ; more 

 especially as I notice in Poona that a nest in a neem tree in my 

 garden was occupied twice in the same season, whether by the 

 same birds or not I cannot say. The nests are more numerous 

 in the months of November and February than at other times ; 

 this also points to two broods in th^ year. 



The nests are clumsy structures, often of large size, built 

 generally in a stout fork, or junction of the limbs, but occasion- 

 ally on a horizontal bough of a tree. The eggs are usually two 

 (rarely three) in number, broad oval in shape, greyish-white in 

 color, boldly and handsomely blotched, streaked, and spotted 

 bright red-bro?yn. They vary much in coloring. In size they 

 average 2'2 inches in length by about 1'8 in breadth. 



Milvus melanotis, Tern fy ScU. 



56fo's. Milvus major, Hume. Sind, Stray Feathers, Vol. I, 



p. 160 ; Butler, Bombay ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 375 ; 



Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 91 ; Hmne's Scrap 



Book, p. 326. 



THE LARGE PARIAH KITE. 



Length, 2675, 2775 ; wing, 21, 21 '5 ; tail, 13'3, 1375 ; tarsus, 

 2'5, 2-4; bill at gape, 175, 178. 



Adult Female. Bill and claws horny-black ; legs dull yellow ; 

 toes mingled dingy-greenish and yellow. 



Plumage. General plumage much as in the common kite. 



There appears to be a set controversy regarding the distinct- 

 ness of this from M. govinda. I have never met with the bird 

 myself, although I have constantly been on the look-out for it. 

 Mr. Hume saw several specimens in the dhunds of Upper Sind, 

 and obtained one in Bombay Harbour. 



GENUS, Pernis, Cuvier. 



Bill rather small, gently curving from the base, the tip very 

 slightly hooked ; margin of the upper mandible almost straight, 

 or very feebly simiated ; nostrils narrow, oblique ; the lores 

 covered with small scale-like feathers ; wings moderate, fourth 

 quill longest, the second to the sixth sinuate internally ; tail rather 

 long, slightly rounded ; tarsi short, half plumed in front, covered 

 with small reticulated scales ; toes with transverse scales, entire 

 at the roots of the nails, elsewhere divided ; lateral toes about 

 equal, free, or barely united to the mid-toe ; nails unequal, only 

 moderately curved ; middle-claw dilated internally. 



Pernis ptilortiynchus, Tern. 



57. Pernis cristata, Cuv. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, 

 p. 108; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 448 



