82 
MILVUS GOVINDA. 
In several examples of the young of Indian M. govinda I have observed that there is more whitish at the base of 
primaries than in adults ; some juvenile Ceylonese examples have scarcely any, while others have more white than 
old birds ; so that I incline to the belief that this character in the medium-sized Kite is entirely worthless. 
In referring to the species M. govinda , and speaking of its type in the India Museum, I select the example of the 
medium-sized Indian Kite, which, I believe, Sykes’s description relates to, and which has, on the bottom of the 
pedestal, the name govinda written in pencil by Dr. Horsfield. Sykes’s description is too short to identify with 
certainty the specimen which it refers to ; but the smaller bird agrees better with it than with the young example 
of M. nielanotis mentioned by Mr. Brooks (‘ Stray Feathers,’ 1 876, p. 272). Then there is, in favour of the smaller 
bird being the type, the indisputable evidence of the habits and locality of the bird referred to by Sykes. He says 
it is the Common Kite of the Deccan, and is “ constantly soaring in the air in circles, watching an opportunity 
to dart upon a chicken, upon refuse matter thrown from the cook-room, and occasionally even having the hardihood 
to stoop at a dish of meat carrying from the cook-room to the house.” This is not the habit of the larger Kite, 
which, according to most Indian observers, is a wary bird, and is furthermore not found in the district dealt with 
by Sykes. Mr. Hume, who has, I conclude, the largest series of Kites of any one in India, says, “ I have examined 
more than 30 specimens of Kites from Bombay, Matteran, Sholapoor, Sattara, and Poona, and I never found one 
M. major among them ; nay, when at Bombay and Poona, I specially noticed the Kites, and, while I thought I 
recognized some M. affinis, I can positively affirm there were no M. major Everywhere in the plains 
M. major is a bird of the jungle, very rarely approaching towns or even villages, and living more on frogs, locusts, 
&c. than on offal.” With regard to the measurements given by Sykes, ornithologists so far back as thirty or 
forty years ago rarely measured birds in the flesh ; and I agree with Mr. Hume that Sykes’s bird must have been 
measured from the skin. The tail, which is 11 inches, is decidedly that of the medium-sized bird, and corresponds 
in size with that of Ceylonese examples. 
Distribution. — The Pariah Kite of Ceylon has a somewhat local habitat, being almost entirely confined to 
the northern half of the island. Its headquarters are the Jaffna peninsula and the west coast of the Northern 
Province, as far south as Manaar. It is, singularly enough, notwithstanding its limited range, subject to a 
seasonal movement from the east coast to the west during the south-west monsoon. Although tolerably 
common from the peninsula down to Trincomalie, from October until March, scarcely a bird is to he seen in 
that quarter during the opposite season. I am likewise informed by my friend Mr. TV . Murray, of the Ceylon 
Civil Service, who has made large collections of birds in the Jaffna district, that its numheis are greatly 
decreased during the same time of the year — a circumstance which may be explained by its retiring into the 
jungle to breed, and also by its undertaking a partial migration to the southern coasts of India. In the island 
of Manaar and in the adjoining district of Mantotte it is plentiful, Mr. Holdsworth recording it as very 
common at Aripo ; to the southward of the latter place it occurs in less numbers, taking in the island of 
Karativoe into its range, down the coast to Puttalam, at which place it is again tolerably numerous in the cool 
season. South of this it is rare, occurring as far as Madampe and perhaps to Negombo, below which I have 
never observed it. 
In Ceylon it is exclusively a sea-coast bird, except in the very north of the Vanni, where it may now and 
then be seen about the villages of the interior. I have no record of its occurrence south of Batticaloa, on the 
east side of the island. Nor does it ascend into the hills as it does in the Nilgliiris and Himalayas. 
In India this Kite is almost everywhere abundant. It is found alike at seaport and inland towns; and 
most villages even have their attendant flock, who act the part of scavengers in quickly disposing of everything 
which it is possible for a bird to digest. In the south it inhabits the Nilghiris, in which hills Mr. Davison says 
it is very common, ascending to their summits, and often roosting with Haliastur Indus. In the Travancore 
hills, likewise, Mr. Bourdillon writes that the Pariah Kite occurs in numbers in the hot weather ; and it is to 
be presumed that the present species is intended, as the larger bird ( M . melanotis) is not found in the extreme 
south. Sykes, who first discriminated the species, says it is the common Kite of the Deccan, while at Bombay 
and up the coast to Sindh, as well as throughout the whole region of Mount Aboo and Northern Guzerat, and 
in the Kandhala district, it is recorded by various writers in ‘ Stray Feathers * as very common. It inhabits 
the southern slopes of the Himalayas, up which it ascends to an elevation of 6000 or 7000 feet. It has been 
procured by Mr. Ball as far west as in the Suliman Hills, which form the western boundary of the Punjaub. 
The same writer observes that it is common at Chota Nagpur, and that specimens from the jungle are often 
intensely dark. In Kashgar Dr. Scully obtained nothing but the large bird, although the late Dr. Stoliczka 
