148 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



size, the male hill-Kite being as big as or bigger thau 

 the female of our low-country bird. Females in Kites, 

 it should be observed, are larger than males, follow- 

 ing the usual but inexplicable rule of birds of prey, 

 Milvus melanotis, as one sees him at Darjeeling, 

 is certainly a finer bird altogether than our Calcutta 

 cockney, but both are thrown into the shade by 

 another common Calcutta resident, the Brahminy 

 Kite (Haliastur indus). It is rather an insult to 

 class this bird with the Kites, for he is, at all events, 

 of a much better jat, as his name implies, though 

 Tommy, having converted the same name into 

 " Bromley-Kite," applies it to the common pariah 

 bird. In his first plumage, indeed, the Brahminy 

 Kite is very like the adult pariah, but may be easily 

 distinguished by his rounded tail— the other's beiag 

 forked in the old and square in the young — and by 

 " a certain indefinable style. " When he becomea 

 adult, however, there is no possible confusion, the 

 Brahminy's brilliant chestnut, set off by black quills 

 and a white head, being quite unique among Indian 

 birds of prey. To see the Brahminy one has usually 

 to go down the Hooghly, for he is' not mi#h of a 

 town bird, though I used to see one not unfrequently 

 at the Museum tank. He is said to be a bolder 

 bird than the common Kite, and to rob this bird of 

 its prey. Other birds fear him little as a rule. 



