152 THE BIRDS OF MONGOLIA ETC. 



in a Chinese village. About Lake Hanka it is the commonest bird of prey, 

 and breeds principally in the groves amidst the Sungachin marshes. It 

 arrives here in spring, about the end of March ; but the date of its departure 

 we could not ascertain. 



18. MiLVus MELANOTis, Tcmm. & Schleg. Corshun chernouchey. 



Milvus melanotis, Temm. & Schleg. Faun. Jap. pi. v. 



Winters in great numbers about Pekin ; but in the higher- situated Kolgan 

 it is only a summer visitant. According to my companions' observations, the 

 first Kites appeared at Kolgan on the 16th of February in the spring of 1872. 

 Throughout Mongolia, Kan-su, and about Koko-nor it is common, and in 

 some localities even extremely numerous. We found it in the wild deserts of 

 Ala-shan, as well as in the alpine regions of the Kan-su mountains, where it 

 ascends to an altitude of 12,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is even 

 more daring than the European species ; and in company with Ravens this 

 most fearless bird appears everywhere where a tent is erected, and steals the 

 first thing eatable that presents itself. Its audacity goes even so far as almost 

 to take the flesh out of men's hands. On one occasion, in swooping down 

 on a piece of meat, it touched with its wings the man's head who was sitting 

 close by it ; and when an antelope or some other animal was killed, the flesh 

 of which was usually hung up for drying in the sun, we could only save it 

 from the Kites by watching with a gun. Once, on a similar occasion, I killed 

 nine specimens in succession ; but the remaining birds still kept flying above 

 the meat, trying to steal a piece lying a little out of the way. In the case of 

 an animal left (after being killed) on the steppes, the Kites and Ravens were 

 the first birds to assemble; and they usually thus indicated to the others- 

 where the carcass was lying. 



In S.E. Mongolia the Kites arrive about the middle of March; in April 

 they commence repairing or building their nests, which are always situated 

 in trees, and not on rocks. In Ala-shan they breed even on the low 

 sacsaulnic bushes. 



