KITES. 
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perched on the summits of the long poles used for raising water from the Nile. 
The nests aie usually placed in low trees; and the eggs have a creamy or bluish 
white ground, sjiaringly streaked and blotched with pale yellowish brown, and are 
usually two or three in number. One of the Australian species usually nests in 
large companies; the nests being placed as near together as possible, and composed 
of twigs, lined with the cast pellets of the fur of the rodents on which the birds 
BLACK-WINGED KITE (± Hat. size). 
have fed. The black-winged species subsists chiefly on insects, but also devours 
rats and mice. The American white-tailed kite does not apparently breed north¬ 
wards of South California, but extends south to the Argentine. Its habits seem 
to be very similar to those of the other species; but whereas in North America it 
usually lays four or five eggs, in Argentina the number reaches eight. Messrs. 
Sclater and Hudson write that “ it is a handsome bird, with large ruby-red irides, 
and when seen at a distance its snow-white plumage and buoyant flight give it a 
striking resemblance to a gull. Its wing-power is indeed marvellous. It delights 
