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