166 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



four eggs. These latter are of the dark type, which appears to be the 

 commoner form of markings. 



329. Ictinia mississippiensis (WILS.) [428.] 



Mississippi Kite. 



Hab. Southern United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, southward from South Carolina on the 

 coast, and casually or irregularly to Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin on the interior; south to Mexico. 



The Mississippi Kite is a summer resident in the southern portion 

 of the United States. It is irregular in its distribution, and its occur- 

 rence in particular localities is uncertain, often being found common in 

 regions where it was formerly rare. It is generally found in the same 

 localities with the Swallow-tailed Kite, and, like the latter species, its 

 extremely beautiful flight is one of the bird's characteristics. It often 

 soars so high in the air as to be almost invisible. Like the Swallow- 

 tail species, its food consists of insects, small snakes and lizards. 



The nests of the Mississippi Kite are built in the tops of gigantic 

 pines, pin oaks, sycamores, cottonwood, elm, and lofty cypress trees. 



Mr. J. A. Singley has a nest which he took in Lee county, Texas, 

 which was placed in the forks of a live oak twenty-two feet from the 

 ground. The foundation and sides of the nest is built entirely of small 

 sticks, the interior portion of small, green oak twigs in leaf, and leaves 

 of the mesquite tree ; the lining is of green moss, on top of which are 

 placed green leaves of the pecan tree. The outer diameter from the 

 ends of the longest twigs is seventeen inches, the most compact portion 

 eleven inches ; interior diameter five inches ; outer depth seven inches, 

 inside one and a half inches. Mr. Singley states that the measure- 

 ments of two eggs taken May 22, 1886, now in the cabinet of Mr. J. 

 Parker Norris, is 1.65x1.40, 1.63x1.34; they are bluish-white un- 

 marked, one of them having light brown stains on it. They were 

 taken from a nest placed in the slender forks of a small post oak 

 about thirty feet from the ground ; it was made of sticks and weed 

 stems, lined with willow twigs in leaf. 



Mr. Singley has given me the sizes of the eggs of four sets which 

 he collected in the season of 1887. Three of these sets were of two 

 eggs each and one of three ; their color was invariably bluish-white, 

 unmarked, and their sizes are as follows: 1.53x1.34, 1.64x1.36, 

 1.71x1.32, 1.63x1.34, 1.60x1.35, 1.67x1.32, 1.65x1.34, 1.59x1.35, 

 1.62 x 1.33. Considerable variation will be noticed in the length of 

 these specimens, while their diameter is very uniform. 



Col. N. S. Goss found this species breeding in company with the 

 Swallow-tailed Kite in the vicinity of Neosho Falls, Kansas. An egg 

 was taken July 5, from an old crow's nest, fitted up with a few extra 



