MILVIN^E. 59 



compressed ; hind-claw much curved, and mid-claw with the interior 

 margin usually much dilated, especially towards the tip ; irides 

 brilliant yellow, duller or slightly brownish in younger birds ; cere 

 black, greenish at nostrils and towards commissure ; gape and two- 

 thirds of the commissure from gape, and greater portion of lower 

 mandible, pale blue ; greater portion of upper mandible and tip of 

 lower black ; a small dingy-greenish patch on each side of the 

 lower mandible towards the base ; tongue moderate, obtuse, 

 entire, rather stiff and membraneous towards the tip (where it is 

 slightly emarginate) and margins." 



With the exception of Sind, the Honey Buzzard is more or 

 less common throughout the region ; it occurs more plentifully 

 in well-wooded districts ; it is a permanent resident, and breeds 

 during May and June. The nest is generally placed at some 

 height in a fork of a tree, and is composed of twigs, lined with 

 dead leaves ; the eggs, two in number, are very broad oval or 

 nearly spherical in shape ; they are white, or buffy- white, in color, 

 thickly clouded, blotched, or capped with deep reddish-brown 

 or blood-red; they measure 2 inches in length, by about 17 

 inches in breadth. 



GENUS, Elanus, Savigny. 



Bill very small, wide at the base, compressed at the tip, which 

 is much hooked and lengthened ; edge of upper mandible slightly 

 sinuated ; cere short ; nostrils large, oval, longitudinal ; wings 

 very long, pointed, second quill longest, the first emarginate near 

 the tip ; tail short, almost even, or emarginate ; tarsi short, 

 thick, weak, plumed above, covered with reticulated very small 

 roundish scales beneath ; toes thick, soft, free, unequal ; outer 

 toe shorter-than the inner one ; claws rather large, middle on< 

 keeled, others rounded. 



Elanus cceruleus, Desf. 



59. Elanus melanopterus, Daud. Jerdon's Birds of India, 



Vol. I, p. 112; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, L ,)W 

 p. 449 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 375 ; Murray's 

 Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 92 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, 

 Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 58 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 338. 



THE BLACK-WINGED KITE. 



Length, 12 to 13 ; expanse, 34 to 35 ; wing, 10 to 1175 ; tail, 

 5'25 to 575 ; tarsus, 11 to T3 ; bill from gape, 0*95 to 115. 



Legs and feet bright yellow ; claws black ; bill black, cere and 

 base of lower mandible yellow; irides bright crimson in the 

 adult, yellowish-pink or bright yellow in the young. 



Plumage. Adult : forehead a narrow streak above the dark 

 supercilium ; the anterior portion of the lores, the chin, cheeks, 

 ear-coverts, throat and whole lower parts, wing-lining, edge of the 

 wing, and all but the central tail-feathers white ; the external webs 

 of all, but the two exterior on each side of these, more or less 



