Butastur teesa (with its sub-species indicus) ranges from Japan and China to New Guinea and India; it is reddish-brown, varied with white on the nape and rump, the tail and lower parts being rufous, with black and white bars respectively. B. liventer, found from Burma to Celebes, is ashy below; B. rufipennis of North-East Africa, has streaks in place of bars. The pugnacious Indian form has a mewing cry, feeds upon small mammals, lizards, frogs, and crabs, and builds its nest almost entirely of twigs, laying some three bluish-white eggs. Geranoaëtus melanoleucus of western and southern South America, the so-called Chilian "Sea-Eagle," is black with grey wings and white belly, both barred with dusky; the flight is vulturine with spiral gyrations, the note is piercing; the food consists of carrion from the beach, small mammals, birds, and grasshoppers. The nest, placed in a tree or crag, is composed of sticks and grass, the two white eggs being blotched with pale red. It is often seen inland.
Leucopternis is a genus of eleven members, of which L. ghiesbreghti, of Central America, is snowy-white, with most of the wings and a zone on the tail black. The other forms, whereof three inhabit Brazil, are black or slate-coloured above with white markings, the lower surface being grey in L. plumbea of Ecuador and Panama and L. schistacea of Colombia and Amazonia, but barred with black and white in L. princeps, of Costa Rica. Urubitinga zonura, a black bird with white tip and base to the tail, ranges from Mexico to Chili and Argentina; U. anthracina, found from Arizona and Texas to northern South America, has in addition a white belt across the rectrices.
The crested Harpyhaliaëtus coronatus, extending from Bolivia and Brazil to Patagonia, a powerful and savage bird with a taste for carrion, is chocolate-brown, with grey on the wing, and a tail like that of the last species; H. solitarius, darker in colour and doubtfully distinct, reaching Mexico northwards. Heterospizias meridionalis, of northern South America to Bolivia and Paraguay, is mottled with rufous, grey, and black, and has two white bands on the tail. Buteogallus aequinoctialis, of Guiana and Colombia, is black relieved with rusty above, and reddish with black bars below, the remiges being chiefly chestnut, and the tail indistinctly barred with white. Busarellus nigricollis, of Guiana and Brazil, is brighter chestnut with black streaks, the head being buffish, the lower throat, primaries, and most of the tail black. It has a harsh cry, and loves sitting on stumps near water, while the rugose soles of the feet assist it to secure the fishes and molluscs on which it–as well as Buteogallus–feeds.
Of the forms with comparatively weaker feet, Haliastur indus, the "Brahminy Kite" or "Pondicherry Eagle," reaching from the Indian Region to Australia and New Guinea, is chestnut with darker wings, the white head, neck, and lower parts being streaked with black; H. sphenurus, of the two latter countries and New Caledonia, named by colonists the "Whistling Kite," is ashy-brown, with rufous head and ochraceous breast striped with brown. The note is shrill, the flight easy and buoyant, the food composed of garbage, small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, crustaceans, insects and their larvae; while fish are secured by grasping them with one foot during gliding movements along the surface of the water. The Australian species attacks poultry, but is of great utility in devouring caterpillars during insect-plagues. The nest of twigs, lined with grass, roots, hair, or green leaves, is adorned with rags and the like, the two or three eggs being greenish-white, rarely with rusty markings.
Milvus ictinus, the Red Kite or Fork-tailed Glead of the Old World, ranging from the Atlantic Islands–except, perhaps, the Azores–through most of Europe to Palestine, Asia Minor, and Northern Africa, but leaving the northerly districts in autumn, is red-brown above and rusty-red beneath, the lower surface and the whitish head being streaked with dark brown.
Fig. 41.–Red Kite. Milvus ictinus. × ⅛. (From Bird Life in Sweden.)
It is still known to breed in certain parts of Northern and Western Britain, though no longer the ubiquitous scavenger of the streets, so common even in London three or four centuries ago. Bold thefts of poultry from farmyards and linen from drying-grounds then counterbalanced its utility, but none the less may we regret the almost total extermination of this fine tenant of the air, caused by the increase of fire-arms and the discovery that its tail-feathers make the choicest salmon-flies. Not unlike a Buzzard when aloft, the shrill whistling note, when heard, constitutes a clear mark of distinction; while the broad wings and long deeply-forked tail bestow such graceful ease of motion and perfect steerage power as few birds can claim, whether for soaring and circling aloft, quartering the ground for booty, or hovering over the water to fish. It is not always, however, that the forked character of the tail is apparent, for when fully open it looks square, just as a square tail seems rounded. This species is somewhat gregarious and sluggish, and feeds on offal, small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, insects and their larvae. The nest is a mass of sticks, rags, paper, and rubbish generally, placed in a tree or rarely in a rock; the three, or exceptionally four, eggs being like those of the Buzzard, but duller and with more lilac tints. Milvus migrans, the Black Kite, once recorded in England, extends throughout Central and Southern Europe, and probably to China, breeding in North-Western and migrating to Southern Africa. The upper parts are dark brown, the under parts rufous, and the head whitish, the two latter being streaked with dusky; the bill is black and the tail moderately forked. Barely separable from this bird are Milvus aegyptius of Africa, Madagascar, South-East Europe, and West Asia, with yellow bill; M. affinis, of Papuasia and Australia, possibly reaching Ceylon; M. melanotis, extending from India to Lake Baikal, China, and Japan; and the smaller M. govinda of somewhat similar range. The third and fourth have a white patch beneath the primaries. The last-named, or Pariah Kite, is the scavenger of Hindostan, and is even bolder than its congeners; the habits, however, are similar, as are those of the Australian Lophoictinia isura, separated from Milvus on account of its square tail. This species has a fine crest, and differs, moreover, in its browner crown and greyer rectrices with whitish coverts.
Gypoictinia melanosternon of Australia has a black head and lower surface, chestnut occiput, nape, and thighs, and brownish- or rufous-black upper parts, the wings and rounded tail being marked with greyish white. Like a Kite in manners, it eats snakes and lizards, and is said to destroy Bustard's and Emeu's eggs.[[139]] Elanoïdes furcatus, the lovely Swallow-tailed Kite, caught once in England, and ranging from the Middle United States to Brazil, is black, with purple and green reflexions, white head, neck, rump, inner secondaries and under parts, bluish bill and feet. With splendid powers of wing, it may be seen gliding rapidly through the air, skilfully quartering the ground, or circling aloft with its long forked tail outspread, to perform doublings and evolutions of every description. It catches bees or other insects in one claw and eats them as it flies, or snatches up a lizard, snake, or frog, to be devoured at leisure, small birds and grubs varying the diet. Flocks are often seen, which hang round a wounded individual like Terns. In the nest and eggs this species and the last resemble their kin, though using no rubbish in building. Nauclerus riocouri, of inter-tropical Africa, a miniature Elanoïdes, is grey, with white face and lower surface.
Gampsonyx swainsoni, of Trinidad, Guiana, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, is grey, with yellow face, white collar, under parts and tips to the secondaries; a black patch relieving each side of the breast and one of red the upper back. The tail is rounded in this and the succeeding genus. Elanus caeruleus, the Black-winged Kite, straying to South-West Europe, but properly ranging from the South-East to India, Ceylon, and all Africa, is ashy-grey above with a black patch on the wing-coverts; the face, lateral rectrices, and all the lower plumage being white, and the irides red. A sub-species, E. hypoleucus, occupies Borneo, Java, the Philippines, and Celebes. E. scriptus of Australia, E. axillaris, extending thence to Java, and the hardly separable E. leucurus of tropical and sub-tropical America, are marked with black on the under wing-coverts, while the first has black axillaries also. These buoyant birds are fond of perching, but soar with ease, quartering the plains like Harriers, or hovering with uplifted wings to dart down upon their prey of insects, snakes, small mammals, and more rarely birds. The cry is mournful; the small nest, of sticks, grass, and moss, is placed in trees; the three, four, or even eight white eggs being heavily blotched with red. Ictinia mississippiensis, the Mississippi Kite, found from the Southern United States to Guatemala, and represented from Mexico to Paraguay by the black-winged I. plumbea, is lead-coloured, with black notched tail and rufous inner webs to the primaries; its manners correspond to those of Elanoïdes, but the eggs are white.