

At 



THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 309 



greenish yellow. Length, 225 to 23 inches ; wing, 16 to 

 16-75 ; tail, 105 ; tarsus, 3 ! 25 to 3 75. 



The eight males all have the grey tails, and grey on the 

 wings, and were all shot between the 9th March and the 

 latter end of April. The under surface varies from chocolate 

 brown, nearly uniform on the abdomen, aud margined with 

 rufescent on the throat and breast, to rufescent white with 

 narrow dark centres. The irides light yellow. Length, 20*5 

 to 21 # 5 inches ; wing, 1575 to 16 ; tail, i0 ; tarsus, 3'25 to 35. 



This Harrier appears to soar and hover often at a consi- 

 derable height as a Kite does. It was not noticed in the 

 depth of winter. At the beginning of March a number 

 appear, all of which are in adult plumage ; these disappear in 

 April, and are succeeded by birds in immature plumage, 

 which arrive in great numbers throughout April, getting 

 scarcer in May. A few remain throughout the summer ; and 

 in the middle of August adult birds begin to reappear, having 

 apparently bred higher up, but not far off ; by the middle of 

 November all have left the valley. In one instance a female 

 was brought to Dr. Scully, alive, which had struck a Coot 

 (Fulica atraj in the water; during the struggle a native 

 waded in and secured both birds. 



23.— Milvus govinda, Sykes. (56 bis). 



None are visible during December and January ; but on 

 the 8th February I shot one specimen, after which it becomes 

 common. 



This Kite agrees, as regards habits, with the description 

 of M. melanotis as given in Stray Feathers by Brooks, but 

 does not quite come up to Hume's measurements. It is 

 much shyer than the Indian Kite, and avoids habitations, 

 hunting about the fields, often in large flocks of fifty or sixty. 

 On the 22ud February I saw a large flock of over 300 that 

 appeared to be just arriving; and for many days afterwards 

 they were seen in flocks of twenty or thirty, theflocks gradually 

 getting small till about the end of April, when they disap- 

 peared. A single one was seen 29 th August, in heavy 

 weather. /V 



[This Kite is the species named M. major by Mr. Hume, 

 which now, as conclusively shown by Mr. Brooks,* should stand 

 as M. govinda, Sykes.— G. F. L. M.J 



* 



* [This is a matter of opinion. Sykes says his govinda is the common Kite of the 

 Deccan. Now the large Kite M. melanotis ( = M. major) is almost, if not quite, unknown 

 in the Deccan. I procured one specimen at Bombay, but Butler says (vide his 

 Catalogue) that there is no other record of the bird anywhere in the southern half ^N,. 

 of the Bombay Presidency. On the other hand, of the medium-sized Kite, he says : ^^ ^ 

 " Permanent resident. Very common in most localities throughout the region," \A 

 This shows clearly that Sykes' govinda cannot have been the large, and must have 



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