194- Lieut. R. E. Vaughan and Staff-Surg. K. H. Jones 



It is as well, however, to note that in winter it is 

 impossible for the gunboats to proceed above Wuchau, to 

 the westward of which these birds were observed. 



MiLVUS MELANOTIS. 



The Black-eared Kite is a very common bird on the 

 Kwang Tung coast, its numbers being much greater during 

 the winter than at other times. Of those which remain all 

 through the year only a very limited number are breeding- 

 birds, and these, almost without exception, nest in the 

 vicinity of the sea. 



At all times it may be seen hawking over the harbour 

 at Hong Kong, picking up all sorts of floating refuse, and 

 on such material it chiefly feeds, but it has been knov/n to 

 attack and kill a wounded small bird on occasion. 



Black-eared Kites display a most astonishing partiality 

 for certain sites, especially during the winter, and in such 

 they collect in great numbers, by day and night. A 

 " kitery,^' to coin a word, may be a clump o£ large trees. 

 a mountain top, or even a small knoll or kopje, but in any 

 case it is plentifully littered with feathers and white with 

 droppings. The same favoured spots are made use of year 

 after year, and as the birds frequenting one of them may 

 number a couple of hundred, and as they do not appear to 

 wander very far afield, it is wonderful how they all find 

 sufficient food. 



In south-eastern China, with rare exceptions, the Black- 

 eared Kite places its nest in a tree, frequently a good-sized 

 fir, but it has been found on rocks as well. The nest, which 

 the bii'ds always build themselves, and never appropriate from 

 any other species, is made externally of sticks, often of 

 considerable size, and lined with the most heterogeneous 

 assortment of materials imaginable: paper, rags, human hair, 

 Chinese caps, towels, pieces of flannel, feathers, chicken 

 bones, and raw cotton, all have been found, and as these 

 usually hang over the sides, they give it a very disreputable 

 appearance. They dis[)lay considerable attachment to their 

 nesting-sites and tend to return to their old nests, or at any 



