78 
HALIASTUR INDUS. 
and other tanks in the northern interior, and I believe it also frequents the Bintenne Lake. In the south- 
western district it is found about the Sinhalese villages on the Gindurah as far up as the “ Haycock 55 hill ; 
and I have known it to breed as far inland as Oodogamma. I am not aware of its ever having been seen on 
the upland of Dumbara, or anywhere else in the Kandyan bill-region, although there is no reason why it 
should not follow as a straggler the course of the Mahawelliganga from the low country to the north of 
Bintenne, up to the neighbourhood of the highland capital. 
The Brahminy Kite is found throughout India on the sea-coast and on all large rivers and jheels, 
extending eastwards to Burmah, and as far south as the lower parts of the province of Tenasserim, where it 
is, however, not very common. In the south it is abundant, and at the island of Ramisserum I have always 
found numbers of this bird. Jerdon remarks that it is rare in the plains of India and in the Deccan, in which 
latter region Mr. Fairbank, in ‘ Stray Feathers/ records it as uncommon. In the north-western portion of 
the empire, Mr. Hume speaks of it as follows (‘ Stray Feathers/ 1875, p. 448) : — “ Common enough in 
Sindh and about the coasts of Cutch and Kattiawar, but almost (if not quite) unknown in the dry riverless 
regions of Rajpootana. Adam never obtained it about Sambhur, and at Ajmere I only once remember seeing 
it. Dr. King does not appear to have observed it in any part of Jodhpoor. 55 In Cliota Nagpur, Mr. Ball 
remarks that it is found near the larger rivers and jheels, but nowhere in abundance/ 5 In Lower Bengal it 
is of course plentiful. Further eastward, Mr. Inglis records it as common throughout the year in Eastern 
Cachar ; and in Burmah Mr. Oates writes that it “ occurs in immense numbers in all the tidal creeks of the 
Pegu plains. 55 
Habits. — In Ceylon the Brahminy Kite is especially a denizen of seaport towns and large villages at the 
mouths of rivers and salt lakes ; it frequents, likewise, land-locked bays, estuaries, and lagoons ; but in all of 
such localities seems to prefer the vicinity of human habitations, probably on account of its garbage-eating 
habits, to the solitude of the surrounding plains. It collects in great numbers among shipping, flying round 
the vessels on the look-out for garbage of all sorts, soaring in high circles above their masts, and even settling 
on the rigging, where it keeps a sharp eye on the galley about the dinner-hour, and is ready to pounce 
immediately on any thing that may be thrown overboard. 
It picks up its food with a graceful swoop, and very frequently devours it while in full flight, proceeding 
about this operation in the most leisurely manner possible ; it may be seen bringing forward its talons with 
the food it has seized beneath the breast, and with a combined backward and upward pull from the legs and 
shoulders respectively, fragments are torn off with but little exertion. I have observed it swoop down and pick 
up a Lizard ( Calotes ) basking on the topmost twig of a low tree, this favourite prey among eastern Hawks no 
doubt forming a considerable portion of its sustenance. It will capture fish in shallow pools, and is very fond 
of the small crabs frequenting the foreshores of tidal rivers ; it may be often seen devouring its food on the 
ground or on a large rock or the bank of a paddy-field. It is a tame bird, and exhibits but little fear of man 
or a gun, sometimes making off with a Snipe which has fallen at some little distance from the sportsman. At 
Trincomalie it was always a morning attendant at the drawing of the sea-nets ; and was just as agile in snapping 
up any outside fish as its more numerous companions the Crows, and when not particularly successful in its 
foraging, would pursue a Crow and rob it of its well-earned “ sardine. 55 Layard says that he has known it 
seize a fowl ; but, as he remarks, this must be a rare occurrence. Jerdon has seen it “questing over woods 
and catching insects, especially large Cicada.” It is continually on the wing, and has an easy, buoyant, and 
powerful flight, being much in the habit of soaring up to a great height, and then launching itself off for a 
long distance with motionless wings. Its chief characteristic as regards locomotion is its habit and power of 
sailing steadily up against the wind, with scarcely a movement of its frame, except a twisting of its head from 
side to side, as it carefully scans the ground beneath and awaits its chance of darting down on some coveted 
morsel. I have on other occasions witnessed it exhibit considerable skill in catching up a lizard in the air, 
which it had let fall from its talons while flying off with it. Its favourite note is a weak squealing cry, which 
it constantly utters on the wing, or while perched on some building or tree-top. In Ceylon it sits much on 
the fronds of cocoanut-trees in the vicinity of native bazaars, and at night takes itself off in flocks to roost in 
some favourite spot in the jungle. Numbers of these birds frequented the towm of Trincomalie, haunting the 
harbour and the sea-beaches of Dutch and Back Bays, where they subsisted chiefly on the fish picked up from 
