THE BRAHMINY KITE 191 
sufficed to guide the bird. Thus it circled round and 
round, without effort, looking for its prey. Brahminy 
kites seem, like their vulgar relatives, to be almost 
omnivorous, They pick their food off the water by 
preference, while the common kites hunt over dry land. 
Thus the two species may be said to divide the land and 
water between them ; but, unfortunately for the peace 
of the community, each frequently encroaches on the 
preserve of the other; this leads to a considerable 
amount of mutual abuse, which takes the form of 
squeals, 
Some authorities declare that the Brahminy kite lives 
chiefly upon insects. This is not so; the bird will 
devour insects, as it will eat most things, but it lives 
chiefly upon garbage, which it finds floating on the 
water, and on frogs and crabs, which abound in paddy- 
fields. Numberless Brahminies are seen when one is 
out snipe-shooting near Madras, and these birds make 
no bones about carrying off a wounded snipe if they are 
given half a chance. On one occasion, when I was 
shooting duck, one of these kites made off with a teal 
that I had wounded. I fired at him to punish him for 
his impudence, but he flew off, apparently unscathed, 
carrying his quarry. 
Some naturalists declare that Halzastur catches fish, 
much as an osprey or fishing-eagle does. Thus Colonel 
Sykes says: “It occasionally dips entirely under water, 
appearing to rise again with difficulty.” I do not believe 
that the bird ever does this; the worthy Colonel must 
have mistaken some other species for a Brahminy kite 
upon this occasion. 
