BIRDS FROM NORTHERN AND WESTERN PERSIA. 873 



Circus CBTuginosus (L.) — IMarsh Harrier. 



The Marsh Harrier is a common resident in the lagoon between Resht and 

 Enzeli. 



Milvus milvus (L.). — Common Kite. 

 (Milvua regalis, Auctt.) 



Ingoldby and myself put what we believed to be a Common Kite off a nest 

 in a tall alder at Enzeli on 16th April, but we failed to obtain the bird. Cheest 

 man also believes that he saw the bird on the highroad S. of Resht. Zarudnv 

 records it as breeding in the region S. of the Caspian. 

 Milvus migrans (Bodd). — Black Kite. 



The Black Kite was common on the outskirts of all the towns and villages 

 from Karind to Enzeli during the winter, and was particularly common at 

 Qazvin. In May Cheesman noticed it from Karind to Kermanshah, but saw 

 no nests between Hassanabad and Hamadan ; he found a nest in the first 

 fork of a tall poplar on 30th May. The species breeds commonly round Resht 

 and Enzeli, and on 16th April I shot a male bird from a nest in the top of a tall 

 alder tree growing in a swamp at Enzeli ; the nest contained three unusually 

 heavily marked eggs. 



The status of the form described by Buturhn as M. m. rufiventer, from 

 Transcaucasia and Transcasijia is very doubtful. If it is separable the Black 

 Kite of CTilan and Mazanderan probably belongs to this race. Unfortunately 

 my specimens have failed to reach home. 



Halicietus albicilla (L.) — Sea Eagle. 



The Sea Eagle is common all the year round at Enzeli, and one constantly 

 sees the bird sitting on the sand dunes, and the muddy edges of the lagoon, or 

 perched on telegraph poles. They are of course not common except close to 

 the sea or the lagoon but I have seen single birds along the bed of the Sufed Rud 

 as far S. as Noglabar. During the spring I had under observation a nest in a 

 willow close to Enzeli. A pair of Sea Eagles were constantly seen perched in 

 the tree from the end of January onwards, in fact they may be there all the 

 year round, for I only reached Enzeli in Januars^. From mid March they 

 were generally standing, both of them on the nest, and thej- carried sticks to 

 it. On 10th April I climbed to the nest, a huge mass of sticks five feet across, 

 placed among the all too slender branches of the willow ; it contained no eggs 

 or young, but was draped around the edge with green weeds, and there was a 

 heap of the same weed on the middle of the top of the nest. This decoration 

 was no doubt the work of a Black Kite which shortly afterwards laid eggs on 

 the eagle's nest and reared her young. It is extraordinary that the Sea Eagles 

 tolerated this, as they had certainly repaired the nest, but they continued to 

 hang about the tree all through the summer, roosting close to the brooding Kite 

 by night and perching in the willow tree by day. The Black Kites never ap- 

 peared to resent the presence of the Eagles, but then no Kite has a conscience. 

 Sea Eagles breed commonly along the coast from Enzeli to Astara. 



Pernis apivorus apivorus (L.) — Honey Buzzard. 

 1 2 , near Qazvin — 26th September. 



This specimen is my only definite record of the Honey Buzzard. The wing 

 only measures 405 mm. 

 Pandion haliaetus Jialiaetus, L. — Osprey. 



Ospreys suddenly became very numerous on 15th March at Enzeh, and re- 

 mained common through the summer, breeding in the forest, nearly always in 

 dead trees. They fished more often in the lagoon than in the Caspian itself 

 and were often seen taking fish out of the stake nets. I have no note of their 

 disappearance in autumn, but they are entirely absent in winter. 



