The TRUE GLIDING KITE (_Elanus melanopterus_) is of a beautiful greyish
blue upon the upper portions of its body, and white beneath; the brow
and shoulders are black; the eyes a brilliant red; the beak black; the
cere and feet orange. The young are brownish grey on the back, and light
yellow, streaked with brownish yellow, on the under parts of the body;
most of the feathers are surrounded by a white border. The length of the
male is about thirteen and a half and its breadth thirty inches; its
wing measures eleven and a half and its tail five and a half inches. The
female is somewhat larger. This Kite principally inhabits such tracts of
country as are diversified by woodlands and pastures, and usually avoids
extensive forests; with this exception, it is found throughout the whole
of North-eastern Africa, and is particularly numerous in Egypt. It always
lives in pairs, never flying about in parties except when engaged in
instructing its young. The couples, however, live close to each other,
and may, therefore, often be seen apparently enjoying a social excursion,
when in fact, each family is entirely regardless of its neighbours. In
its habits the Gliding Kite bears some resemblance both to the Buzzard
and the Owl, and is easily recognised either as it flies with the tips
of its wings raised much above its body, or when seen quietly perched
and glowing with dazzling brilliancy in the rays of a tropical sun.
If in pursuit of prey, it glides along at a considerable height above
the ground, and, when it descries a victim, hovers for a few moments
before swooping heavily down with wings close to its sides; should it
be a mouse, or a grasshopper that is thus hastily seized, the former is
carried off to a tree to be devoured, the latter immediately swallowed.
Young birds are often eaten, but mice, we believe, constitute its
principal subsistence. So entirely is this species free from any dread
of man, that in Egypt it flies about in the fields close to the native
labourers, and will even build its nest upon such orange-trees as are
constantly visited by the gardener; it soon, however, becomes cautious
if pursued, and learns to keep at a very respectful distance from the
European gun. In its relations to such of its feathered companions as are
small or harmless, the True Gliding Kite is quite inoffensive, but it
pursues the larger birds of prey with loud cries whenever they appear.
The voice of this species resembles that of the Tree Falcon; the notes
are, however, more prolonged, almost like a whistle, and can be heard at
a great distance. In Egypt the period of incubation takes place in the
months that correspond with our spring, and in Soudan at the commencement
of the rainy season: we have twice found young birds as early as March.
The nests were flat in shape, and placed upon low, thickly-foliaged
trees, at not more than twenty feet above the ground; they were built of
small twigs, and lined with fine fibres and blades of grass, over which
was laid a snug bed of wool and mouse's hair. The eggs vary in colour,
some being greyish white, thickly but irregularly spotted, and streaked
with reddish brown, insomuch that the whitish colour of the shell is
scarcely visible. Jerdon mentions these eggs as being pure white; their
length is one and a half inches, and their diameter, in the thickest
part, about fourteen lines. If taken young from the nest, the Gliding
Kite is capable of being made very tame, and soon accustoms itself to
life in a cage.
* * * * *
The HOVERING KITES (_Ictinia_) are American birds, very nearly allied
to those we have just described. This group consists of but two
species. In these birds the wings--in which the third quill is longer
than the rest--are long and pointed; the tail of medium length, and
slightly sloping; the feet powerful, but of no great size; the toes are
comparatively short, and armed with round and very decidedly curved
talons; the beak is short, nearly as broad as it is high, and furnished
at its base with rudimentary tooth-like appendages; the plumage is thick
and soft, and the individual quills of moderate size.