MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 807 



6. Middle tail-feathers brown throughout P. humilis. 



(Hodgson's Fishing-Eagle). 

 P. ichthyaetus is also very much larger (length 29" ) than P. humilis, which 

 is about 24" or 25". 



Between the Sea-Eagles and the Kites comes the genus HaUasiur which 

 has but one representative in India, H. inclus, Lhe Brahminy or Maroon-back- 

 ed Kite, too well known with its white head and under parts and maroon 

 back, to need description. 



The genus Milvus which comprises the true Kites is divided into 3 species, 

 the tail being forked in all three and the size moderate, the largest 27" and 

 smallest 23". 



Milvus — Key to the Species. 

 a. Head tawny or rufous with black streaks in adults. 



a' Wing $ (in male) 16-75" to IS'S" ; 9 (in female) 



17" to 19-5" M.govinda. 



(The Common Pariah Kite). 



h' Wing $ 19" to 20-5" ; $ 19-25" to 21-5" M. melanotis. 



(The Large Indian Kite). 



h. Head whitish with black streaks in adults M. migrans. 



(The Black Kite). 

 Elanus cceruleus, the Black-winged Kite, is the only Indian species of the 

 genus Elanus and in size and habits too, to some extent, resembles the Buz- 

 zard-Eagles {Butastw) rather than the Kites. This is a small bird not much 

 more than 12 to 14 inches in length and frequently to be seen flying 

 over grass jungles and sometimes hovering like a Kestrel. When flying it 

 has an appearance of being pure white beneath and dark-grey or brown on 

 the back and wings. Bill black ; cere and gape pale-yellow ; irides crimson 

 in adults and yellow in the young ; legs and feet deep-yellow ; claws black. 



Circus. 

 " The Harriers are a well-defined group of Hawks, easily recognized by 

 " their flight and appearance. " 



" General form slender. Bill moderate or weak, compressed, the culmen 

 " curving from the margin of the cere to the hooked tip ; the margin of the 

 " upper mandible slightly festooned ; nostril large, oval, in the anterior part of 

 " the cere, overhung and partly concealed by the bristles of the lores . . . 



" Wings long and pointed ; tail long, even at the tip or 



" rounded. Tarsi long and slender, feathered at the base only, with transverse 



" shields in front and smaller polygonal scales behind ; toes moderate ; claws 



" much curved and sharp." {Fauna of British India, Birds, Vol. Ill, page 380.) 



Circus — Key to the Species — (six species). 



a. Outer web of 2nd, 3rd and 4th quills, but not of 5th, 



notched. 



a' Tarsus more than 2*5" long C macrurus. 



(The Pale Harrier.) 

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