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, spanngly streaked and blotched with pale yellowish brown and -ire 

 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 tlie fur of the rodents on which the bird'. 



BLACK-WINGED KITK {), liat. 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 lai-ge 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 



