COMMON CHARACTERS. Above pearly ash, becoming white or whitish on the head and tail, with a large black patch covering the lesser-covert region. Lower surface continuous pure white; a black spot on front of, and partly around, the eye. 1. =E. leucurus.= A large black patch on the lining of the wing, in the region of the primary coverts. First quill very much shorter than the third; second quill longest. Black patch on lining of the wing restricted to the primary coverts; lesser coverts, on outer surface, not conspicuously bordered anteriorly with white. Above deep bluish-ash, with the inner webs of the secondaries appreciably paler, sometimes abruptly white. Wing, 11.60–12.65; tail, 6.80–7.80; culmen, .65–.80; tarsus, 1.20–1.50; middle toe, .94–1.20. _Hab._ Tropical and subtropical America … var. _leucurus_. Above pale ash, with the inner webs of the secondaries hardly, or not at all, appreciably paler than the outer. Wing, 11.00–12.50; tail, 6.20–7.00; culmen, .70–.77; tarsus, 1.10–1.66; middle toe, 1.05–1.08. _Hab._ Western Australia … var. _axillaris_.[71] Black patch on the lining of the wing extending over the whole of the lesser coverts; lesser coverts, on the outside, conspicuously bordered anteriorly with white. Similar to var. _axillaris_, except as above. Wing, 11.75–12.30; tail, 6.30–7.00; culmen, .75–.80; tarsus, 1.10–1.40; middle toe, 1.15–1.25. _Hab._ Southern Australia … var. _scriptus_.[72] 2. =E. cæruleus.= No black on lining of the wing. First quill usually longer than the third, never very much shorter; second longest. Colors darker than in _E. leucurus_. Wing, 12.00; tail, 6.10; culmen, .75; tarsus, 1.25; middle toe, 1.20. No ashy tinge on side of breast. _Hab._ Southern Europe and North Africa … var. _cæruleus_.[73] Wing, 9.50–10.70; tail, 5.40–5.75; culmen, .65–.70; tarsus, 1.05–1.10; middle toe, 1.00–1.10. Sides of the breast strongly tinged with ashy. _Hab._ Southern Africa and India … var. _minor_.[74] Elanus leucurus (VIEILLOT). BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE; WHITE-TAILED KITE.