5 



Bissao, and on the Niger ; and there is a specimen in the British Museum from Senegal, and one 

 from the Cape-Verd Islands. Mr. Andersson says (B. of Damara L. p. 21) that the present 

 species " appears in Damara and Great Namaqua Land with the first rains or even before," the 

 earliest arrival that he noticed being " on the 24th of August, or about two months before any 

 rain would fall. Usually it arrives in October and November." Mr. E. L. Layard (B. of S. Afr. 

 p. 25) records the occurrence of one specimen in the Cape colony, the bird in question having 

 been received from Mr. David Arnot, of Colesberg, who shot it in a street of that town. He 

 further adds that he has received specimens from the Zambesi, brought down by Mr. J. C. 

 Chapman; and Mr. T. E. Buckley (Ibis, 1874, p. 360) writes of it, "Very common through 

 the Bamangwato and Matabili country; but it is not until the rainy season that they appear 

 in any numbers. We saw an immense quantity one day in November, after a heavy shower 

 of rain, together with a few Buzzards, feeding on the swarms of young locusts which covered 

 the ground." Mr. Edward Newton obtained a specimen on the 8th September, 1862, on the 

 Hivondrona, in Madagascar; and a second one from Pomony, a young bird nearly full-fledged, 

 obtained in November 1863, is in his and his brother's collection. 



To the eastward it occurs about as far as the Lena. Mr. Blanford says that it was the only 

 species that he and Major St. John obtained in Persia, where, however, it was not common. He 

 observed it nowhere so abundant as Menetries found it in the Talish Mountains, where, he says, 

 there was a pair, at least, about every village. Dr. Severtzoff states that it breeds throughout 

 Turkestan : but it does not appear to occur in India, except as an extremely rare straggler ; for 

 there is a specimen from Afghanistan in the Indian Museum. 



In its general habits it differs a good deal from the common Kite. On the wing it has a 

 more buoyant appearance, flying with more grace, and it is frequently seen circling at a consi- 

 derable altitude above its nesting-place. As a rule it is a shyer bird than the common species, 

 but is at the same time more bold in the pursuit of its prey. It feeds on small mammals, such 

 as young hares, field-mice, moles, &c, but appears very partial to frogs and fish, which latter it 

 catches with considerable dexterity when they approach close to the surface of the water ; but it 

 is said by many observers never to immerse the body when striking a fish (as the Osprey does), 

 though M. A. de la Fontaine, whose notes on the present species are translated by Professor 

 Newton, speaks of it as immersing itself when plunging down, and, when emerging, shaking the 

 water from its feathers. It feeds on offal and carrion as readily as the common Kite and the 

 Raven. It is a somewhat destructive bird to the young of many of the water-fowl, as well as 

 of the land-birds, and not unfrequently takes toll amongst the poultry in the farmyards ; but in 

 so doing it exhibits much more caution than the common Kite. 



Its nest, which resembles that of the common Buzzard or of the common Kite, is placed at 

 some altitude on a large tree. I have examined several nests at different times, and have not 

 found any difference between them and those of the other large Raptores. It usually deposits 

 three or four eggs. Of these I possess a fair series from various parts of Europe, which resemble 

 those of the Buzzard and common Kite ; but I have never seen any with the peculiar scratchy 

 markings, as if drawn with a pen, that are not unfrequently seen on the eggs of the common 

 Kite ; and they appear on the average to run smaller in size than those of either of these two 



