KITES. 



197 



perched on the summits of the long poles used for raising water from the Nile. 

 The nests are usually placed in low trees ; and the eggs have a creamy or bluish 

 white ground, sparingly streaked and blotched with pale yellowish brown, and are 

 usually two or three in number. One of the Australian species usually nests in 

 large companies ; the nests being placed as near together as possible, and composed 

 of twigs, lined with the cast pellets of the fur of the rodents on which the birds 



BLACK-WINGED KITE (^ Uat. size). 



have fed. The black-winged species subsists chiefly on insects, but also devours 

 rats and mice. The American white-tailed kite does not apparently breed north- 

 wards of South California, but extends south to the Argentine, Its habits seem 

 to be very similar to those of the other species ; but whereas in North America it 

 usually lays four or five eggs, in Argentina the number reaches eight. Messrs. 

 Sclater and Hudson write that " it is a handsome bird, with large ruby-red irides, 

 and when seen at a distance its snow-white plumage and buoyant flight give it a 

 striking resemblance to a gull. Its wing-power is indeed marvellous. It delights 



