188 FALCONIDJE. 



distinguish the difference between the Common and the Black 

 Kite ; " black," however, is a misnomer, as the primaries are the 

 only part of the plumage which is of that colour. The name 

 migrans, by which this Kite is generally known, is most 

 appropriate, as they are entirely migratory the earliest day on 

 which I observed them crossing the Straits being the 5th of 

 March, then in great numbers, other days on which large flights 

 passed being the 26th, 27th, and 28th of that month, some on 

 the 23rd, one on the 29th of April, and six or seven on the 5th 

 of May. The latest date of the return migration was the 9th of 

 October. Verner's dates of large flights passing are 25th, 31st, 

 and 28th of March, in 1877, '8, '9. Meade- Waldo at Tangier 

 noticed on 22nd March, 1892, quantities passing over to Spain 

 at the same time as Cranes and Storks. More abundant in the 

 vicinity of Seville and where there are pine- woods ; very few 

 remain to breed near to Gibraltar, but we noticed a pair about the 

 western slopes of the Sierra Bartolome on the 5th and 6th April, 

 1894. Both in Morocco and in Andalucia they nest, often in 

 colonies, about the end of April ; and on the 24th of that month 

 we took two nests near Larache, each containing the usual 

 number of two eggs, both lots quite fresh. The nests, built of 

 sticks and placed in tall trees like those of the Common Kite, are 

 lined with rags, paper, bits of rope, and such-like rubbish. 



Verner remarks that these Kites have a very peculiar habit of 

 collecting on the open patches of baked mud in the marisma, 

 and crouching down like Pratincoles ; he saw as many as twenty- 

 two on 26th May, 1879, in this position, and although the 

 ground was like iron, and all herbage burnt up by the sun, they 

 appeared to be eating something at times. 



The eggs are subject to great variation both in shape and 

 colour ; sometimes they are almost white, without any spots ; 

 others are richly marked all over with reddish brown ; some only 

 so marked at the ends, generally at the large one, though now 

 and then at the smaller end. 



