34 FIKST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KOtSKAN. 



54.— Circus aeruginosas, Lin. 



Malran. I DapulL | 



Rare. Not observed elsewhere. 



14tk February 1879, Male.— Length, 20|; wing, 16; tar- 

 sus, 3£. 



3rd March 1880, Male.— Length, 19± ; wing, 15| ; tail, 9£ ; 

 tarsus, 3f ; mid toe and claw, 2£ ; cere, irides and feet yellow ; 

 bill blue black. 



The only specimens obtained were shot on the edges of wet 

 paddy fields. . 



55.— Haliastur indus* Bodd. 



Kelshi. Palgad. 



Harnai. 



Bantot. 



G-uhagar. 



Batnagiri. 



Common about all the large rivers both inland and on the 

 coast. No food seems to come amiss to it. Day after day from 

 a seaside bungalow have I watched a pair of these birds catch- 

 ing crabs on the rocks at low tide. Swooping down they seize 

 the crab, and bearing it aloft, pick the shell clean and drop it. 

 On the wing, I have also often seen them hawking on the dry 

 rocky uplands, when the southern Crown Crest and the little 

 Finch Lark (P. grisea) have young broods, and have more than 

 once seen them pounce on these unprotected fledgelings. 



Breeds from the middle of January to the end of March. 

 Prefers cocoanut trees on the coast, and mango trees inland. 

 Deserts its nest on the slightest provocation. 



56.— Milvus govinda, Syles. 



Eelshi. Palgad. 



Ado. Khed. 



Guhagar. 



Abundant everywhere. Swarms at all the fishing villages on 

 the coast and at inland towns, such as Khed, where there is a 

 constant traffic in putrid fish. 



Breeds from January to March. 



60.— Strix javanica, Gm. 



j Mahapral. 



Palgad. 

 I Khed. 



Not common, but I have seen it at Ratnagiri as well as at the 

 localities given above. 



I found a nest with four young ones, in a hole, high up in the 

 wall of a house at Khed. I kept two of the youDg ones who were 



