174 
ALLEN’S NATUliALIST’S LIBRARY. 
occurrence of the common Black-winged Kite in Ireland 
appears to be beyond question, it is given a place in the pre- 
sent work, for what it is worth. Like all Kites, the members 
of the genus Elamcs have the feet bare, and further show that 
they are Kites and not Eagles by having the oblique nostril 
which is one of the features of the Milvine section of the 
Sub-family Aquilince. At the same time they approach the 
True Falcons in appearance, and more especially the Honey- 
Kites in their soft feathering, that peculiar “ feel ” of plumage 
which distinguishes this small group of Hawks to the student, 
and enables him to recognise the Falconine Kites. To this 
group of Accipitrine Birds belong the South America genera 
Rosthramus and Leptodon, as well as Gampsonyx, and the 
Old World genera Gypoictinia, Elanus, Henicopernis, Machce.- 
rhamphus^ and Fer?iis. Of these Falconine Kites perhaps the 
most interesting is Macharhamphns, of which the species are 
so rare in museums that certainly less than twenty examples 
are as yet known. They are crepuscular birds, coming out in 
the twilight and feeding on bats, edible swifts, and other 
night-flying animals. These curious black Perns are found in 
Southern and Eastern Africa and Madagascar, and then the 
genus re-appears in Southern Tenasserim, Malacca, Borneo, 
and New Guinea. The genus Elanus is represented in every 
portion of the tropical globe, and is absent only in the tem- 
perate parts of the Palaearctic and the Nearctic Regions, as well 
as in Oceania. 
I. THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE. ELANUS C.ERULEUS. 
Falco caruleus, Desf. Mem. Acad. Sci. Paris, 1787, p. 503, pi. 
IS- 
Elanus cceruleus, Leach ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 336 
(1874); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 663, pi. 363 (1875); B. O. 
U. List Br. B. p. 100 (18S3); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 
328, note (1889). 
Adult Male — General colour above blue-grey, the head paler ; 
forehead and eyebrow, lores and sides of face, white ; the ear- 
coverts washed with grey ; feathers round the eye black ; lesser 
and median wing-coverts black, the greater series blue-grey ; 
