THE BEACK-SHOULDERED KIl'ES. 
^73 
steppes and valleys, certainly does not make it a normal in- 
habitant of the plains, and its real habitation is the forest, 
where it breeds, and to which it retires to roost. In the 
Volga district it never builds anywhere but in trees ; but in 
the Volga delta, where no oaks nor any other high trees exist, 
it constructs its nest on the very low trees which sometimes 
grow amidst reeds. In the wooded parts of Kazan their 
food consists of young hares, moles, mice, and small birds, 
and in the towns and villages of garbage. In the river- 
valleys it preys upon frogs, water-rats, ducks and other water- 
birds ; but in no case, and in no place, does it despise carrion. 
Its migration from the province of Kazan commences in Sep- 
tember, and draws to a close in October. This, however, 
largely depends upon the weather, as in dry and mild autumns, 
when there are many mammals on the steppe, it leaves later.” 
Uest. — Made of sticks, and lined with some rubbish and 
scraps of paper, bits of old clothes and rags, as in the case of 
the Red Kite. In the Eastern Atlas, Mr. Osbert Salvin states 
that the nest was usually built amongst the roots of a tree 
throwing out of a rock. Mr. Scebohm adds; “The nest is 
often covered with fish-bones, and, according to Dr. Holland, 
the young are fed on reptiles and small birds. The Black 
Kite will also rob the nests of other birds, when it is bringing 
up its young.” In Southern Spain, Mr. Howard Saunders 
has found the species to be gregarious during the nesting- 
season, and as many as ten nests have been found by him in 
a small patch of forest. 
Eggs. — Generally two, but as many as five are sometimes 
found. They are very similar to those of the Red Kite, but 
they are, as a rule, more distinctly marked than the eggs of 
the last-named species. The ground-colour is dull white, and 
the reddish blotches are distributed irregularly oyer the egg, 
being sometimes congregated at one end, sometimes at the 
other. Some eggs are clouded all over with pale cinnamon- 
brown. Axis, 2 '05-2 '3 inches ; diam., i'6-i75. 
THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITES. GENUS ELANUS. 
Elanus, Savigny, Syst. Ois. d’Egypte, p. 274 (1809). 
These are perfectly tropical birds, and, like the Bee-Eaters, 
are entirely out of place in Great Britain. As, however, the 
