256 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



to be seen, and very common it is ; but towards spring it becomes 

 more scarce, the larger number retiring to the northern moun- 

 tains for nidification, though a few still remain in the central 

 districts near Carmel and Nablous, and many in the hill country 

 of Galilee. Yet we only took two well-identified nests. In 

 winter the Kite is gregarious, especially in the south ; and is 

 very abundant in the wilderness to the west of the Dead Sea, and 

 in the whole desert and plateaux round Beersheba, where large 

 flocks maybe seen hovering at all times of the day, and hanging 

 about the neighbourhood of the Bedouin camps and their cattle. 

 In wet and stormy weather they will gather like Rooks, and sit 

 motionless on a wall or on a clump of trees, in the ruined dis- 

 trict of Hebron, for hours together. 



MiLVUs MIGRANS (Bodd.) j Folco ater, Gm. No sooner 

 has the Red Kite begun to retire northwards than the Black 

 Kite, never once seen in winter, returns in immense numbers 

 from the south and, about the beginning of March, scatters 

 itself over the whole country, preferring especially the neigh- 

 bourhood of villages, where it is a welcome and unmolested 

 guest, and certainly does not appear to attack the poultry, 

 among which it may often be seen feeding on garbage. It is 

 not strictly gregarious, though very sociable ; and the slaughter 

 of a sheep near the tents will soon attract a large party of Kites, 

 which swoop down, regardless of man and guns, and enjoy a 

 noisy scramble for the refuse, chasing each other in a laughable 

 fashion, and sometimes enabling the wily Raven to steal off 

 with the coveted morsel during their contention. It is the butt 

 of all the smaller scavengers, and it is evidently most unpopular 

 with the Crows and Daws, and even with the Rollers, who enjoy 

 the amusement of teasing it in their tumbling flight, which is a 

 manoeuvre most perplexing to the Kite. The nest, generally in 

 a tree, often in a glen, is a grotesque, untidy structure, decorated 

 with all sorts of rags and rubbish, apparently to attract observa- 

 tion. The eggs are invariably two, and, as a rule, are more 

 richly coloured than those of the Milvus ictinus. 



MiLvus ^GYPTius (Gm.) ; M. parasiticus, Daud. This bird 

 possesses the same habits as the preceding, but is not so abundant. 



