Wt 
THE BIRDS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 42: 
181. Levant Sparrow Hawk. Accipiter brevipes. 
Accipiter brevipes (Severtz.) (Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscow, 23, 2, 
p. 234, 1850—Voronesh, 8. Russia). 
Recorded as seen almost daily in April at Urfa at Weigold. Zarudny gives it 
as a winter visitor and passage migrant. It must occur fairly commonly, but 
we have no records or specimens. 
182. Black Kite. Milvus migrans. 
Milvus migrans migrans, Bodd. (Tabl. Pl. Enl., p. 28, 1783—France). 
A winter visitor to the plains, arriving early ; the earliest record is July 26th 
near Baghdad and but few are seen till mid-August when they appear in some 
places in numbers; many are recorded at Fao on the 18th, Basra on the 20th ; to 
some, places no great numbers are seen till well on in September as at Baghdad, 
while throughout the country they become increasingly common during October 
and remain common during the winter. They begin to leave again in March and 
few are left by mid-April ; odd non-breeding birds are recorded on June Ist. 
Weigold records it as common and breeding at Djullab on the Syrian frontier 
(or actually in Syria ?). Cheesman saw a large flock roostingin date palms at 
Khanikin on the Persian frontier on May 21st but its status there is not known. 
Attracted by food it swarmed round the larger camps and even followed troops 
on manceuvres and is very common in the larger towns, as at Basra, where it 
competed with the gulls in scavenging the river for floating morsels. There is 
no truth, of course, in the widespread idea held during the war that the kites 
were imported from India to act as scavengers! It was remarked that these 
kites were commoner in 1917-18 than in 1916-17, probably due to the increased 
number and extent of camps, dumps, etc. Several were killed by anti-aircraft 
fire: Stoneham records it roosting on bare ground in lieu of trees. 
Six specimens examined: <, Shaiba n. d., 9, Sheik Saad, 1-11-16, 14-9-16 
(P. Z. C. and R. E. C.); Q Sheik Saad, 12-12-17 (Robinson). 9, Baghdad, 
13-9-17; 3, Qizil Robat, 22-11-18. (P. A. B.). 
These match European birds in similar plumage ; the edging to the crown 
feathers not rufous, but creamy white. 
The name Korschun of Gmelin has been resuscitated of recent years by some 
authors for this bird, but this name is invalid, as pointed out by Newton many 
years ago. It seems a pity that, before old names are brought forward to replace 
well known names on the plea of priority, their correctness is not more care- 
fully gone into. 
183. Large Black Kite. Milvus lineatus. 
Milvus lineatus, Gray (Hardwicke’s Ill. Zool. I, p. 1, 1832—China). 
The status of this bird, except that it is presumably a winter visitor, is not 
known. Zarudny records it as rare in winter in the Karun district. Buxton 
obtained a pair on December 25th, 1917, which I regard as belonging to this spe- 
cies ; the black streaks on the crown are not edged with creamy white but with 
rufous brown, as in govinda, they are also large birds (wings ¢ 455 9 485 mm.) 
and there is a considerable white patch at the bases of the flight feathers. Possi- 
bly it is commoner than the records indicate but was confused with migrans. 
This bird is the Milvus melanotis of the Fauna of British India. 
184. Red Kite. Milvus milvus. 
Milvus milvus milvus (L.) (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, 1, p. 89, 1758—Sweden). 
Recorded by Zarudny as a passage migrant in the Karun district. No other 
records, ; 
185. Honey Buzzard. Pernis apivorus. 
Pernis apivorus apivorus (L.) (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, 1758—Sweden). 
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