THE LAEGE JUNGLE-KITE. 
203 
Mr. Blyth gives M. govinda from Burmah and states that it is common 
in the cold season. There is little doubt^ I think^ that Mr. Blyth did not 
consider M. affinis worthy of separation from M. govinda. No specimen 
of this latter has ever been procured in Burmah so far as I am aware. At 
one time I thought that M. govinda did occur in Pegu j but I am now of 
opinion that all the specimens I procured in that Division are referable to 
the smaller M. affinis. These two Kites are not always easy to separate : 
ilf. affinis is^ as a rule-, smaller^ and has barely any white under the wing ; 
and I am not aware that any other differences between the two species 
have ever been pointed out. 
The Smaller House-Kite is generally distributed over the Province^ being 
rare only in the southern half of Tenasserim. 
It extends through the Indo-Burmese countries into India and is found 
over a considerable portion of that country. It ranges down the Malay 
peninsula^, and occurs in all the islands as far as Australia. 
This common Kite is generally found in the neighbourhood of houses 
and also of isolated huts in the jungle where garbage is abundant. It dis- 
appears from June to September^ and its return is usually a sign that the 
rains are nearly over. It makes a nest of sticks in trees and lays three 
eggs, which are white blotche'd with rusty. The breeding-season lasts from 
January to March. 
577. MILVUS MELANOTIS, 
THE LARGE JUNGLE-KITE. 
Milvus melanotis, Temm. et Schleg. Faun. Jap.^ Aves, p. 14, pis. 5, 5 B ; Sharpe, 
Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 324 David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 16 ; Anders. Yunnan 
Exped. p. 574 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1879, p. 80 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82 ; Oates, S. F. 
X. p. 181. Milvus major, Hume, Bough Notes, ii. p. 326 ] id. Nests and Eygs, 
p. 54; id. S. F. i. p. 160. Milvus govinda, apud Brooks, S. F. iii. p. 229. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole body-plumage with the upper 
wing-coverts rufous-brown, each feather with a dark shaft-line,, the 
portion adjacent to this line being paler than the other parts of the webs ; 
scapulars brown, edged with rufous ; secondaries, tertiaries and the later 
primaries brown, obsoletely barred and the bases mottled with white; 
earlier primaries black, each with a large patch of pure white on the inner 
web near the base ; tail rufous, distinctly barred across with about eight 
lines of brown ; ear-coverts blackish brown ; vent and under tail-coverts 
plain fulvous. 
Young. Head, neck, shoulders and lower plumage down to the abdomen 
dark brown, each feather with a longitudinal streak of buff down the 
