398 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. JTJ 



called Guilang, some 4,000 feet high, which was cut up by the Nagas- 

 of the nearest village who took it home and hung it up in long strips 

 to dry in the sun. In a very short space of time some two or three 

 hundred kites appeared on the scene and hovered round and round the 

 meat, which was guarded by two small Naga boys. I found the kites- 

 very wild and it was not easy to obtain shots, as each time I fired they 

 would fly away and not return for an hour or so. Eventually I secured 

 four, they all proved to be females of Milvus melanotic. They were 

 very fine specimens, the largest measuring no less than 29*5" with a 

 wing of 27'2". The wing patch in these birds was not only very large 

 but also very conspicuous, the white contrasting vividly with the dark 

 colour of the surrounding parts. I could not, of course, see whether all 

 these kites were of the larger kind, M. melanotis, but I am strongly 

 inclined to think they were, as on the wing they appeared more than 

 usually large and at the same time were comparatively slow in their 

 movements, although much more wild than the normal pariah kite. 

 (520) Elanus cceruleus. — The Black-winged Kite. 

 Hume, No. 59 ; Blanford y No. 1232.. 

 Very common in -the plains, though I very seldom see it in the hills* 

 It is not nearly so often to be met with during the breeding season, and 

 I think that the majority of birds go elsewhere at this period. I am 

 told, however, that they are extremely plentiful in Sylhet during the 

 early part of the rains, and it is possible that their migration i& but a 

 local one from Cachar to Sylhet, 



I have often noticed that these birds keep in small parties, presumably 

 the last lot of young ones and the two old birds. They are not wild in this, 

 part of the world, a shot being very easily obtained. They are inclined to 

 be rather crepuscular in their habits, and during the heat of the day they 

 retire to rest in some tree, often in the open, and not always- a shady one. 

 (521) Circus macrurus. — The Pale Harrier. 

 Hume, No. 51 ; Blanford; No. 1233. 

 Not a very common form in Cachar, but a few are to be met with 

 every year. 



(522) Circus cineraceus. — Montagu's Harrier. 

 Hume, No. 52 ; Blanford, No. 1234. 

 I have only one specimen of this bird in my collection, a young male. 

 Tins bird has,, of course, the short tarsus of C. cineraceus, but the notds 



