260 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



According to Mr. Norman A. Wood, there is a specimen now in the col- 

 lection of Egbert Harper, at Saline, Washtenaw county, which was killed 

 there September 15, 1880. A pair was shot June 19, 1882. in Monroe 

 county, and the late W. H. ColUns took a specimen near Detroit in 1881. 

 Possibly this is the same specimen recorded by Dr. Gibbs, who states that 

 Mr. Collins wrote him: "One specimen taken seven miles from Detroit 

 in the summer of 1878, now in the Museum of the Detroit Scientific Associa- 

 tion." Mr. Edward Arnold took a specimen in Kalamazoo county, in 

 1897, and there have been several reports of birds believed to be of this 

 species which were seen but not taken. Among these are records by G. 

 A. Stockwell (Forest and Stream, XII, 9, 165), who says that it sometimes 

 breeds in the southwestern part of the state; and a record by Dr. Atkins, 

 who told Mr. Covert that he had seen it at Locke, Ingham county. 



It has been taken occasionally in Ontario, and there are records for 

 Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. 



The nest is placed near the top of a tall tree, frequently near the tip of 

 a limb, and is built of small sticks and sometimes lined with moss and 

 feathers. The eggs are commonly two or three, white or buffy white, 

 boldly spotted with brown, and average 1.87 by 1.49 inches. The species 

 nests commonly in the Gulf States and Texas, but may nest in almost any 

 part of its regular range. There is no reason to suppose, however, that 

 it ever nests in Michigan. 



Its food consists largely of snakes, lizards, tree-toads and frogs, but it 

 also consumes myriads of large insects, particularly grasshoppers and 

 locusts. In the southern states, where it is abundant, all observers agree 

 that it rarely if ever touches birds or mammals. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Back, wings and tail clear black, sometimes with metallic reflections; rest of 

 plumage pure white; bill blackish; feet grayish or flesh color. Young: Similar, but 

 head and neck narrowly streaked with blackish, and most of the dark fliglit feathers edged 

 and tipped with white. Length 19.50 to 25.50 inches; wing 15.40 to 17.70; outer tail- 

 feathers 12.50 to 14.50. 



132. White-tailed Kite. Elanus leucurus {VieiU.). (328) 



Synonyms: Black-shouldered Kite. — Milvus leucurus, VieiU. , 1818. — Elanus Icuciu'us 

 of authors generally. — Falco dispar, Bonap. 



In general appearance resembles a small sea gull, for example, Bona- 

 parte's, and when seen at a distance might easily be mistaken for one of 

 those birds. In the hand, its pure white under parts, bluish gray back, 

 and clear black shoulders, together with the white tail, mark it unmis- 

 takably. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States from South CaroUna and southern 

 Illinois to Texas and California, southward to Chili and Argentine Republic; 

 casual in Michigan. Breeds regularly throughout its general distribution 

 in the United States. 



The claim of this bird to a place in the Michigan fauna rests mainly on 

 the statement of A. B. Covert, of Ann Arbor, who says he killed a specimen 

 in September 1878, on the Honeycreek marshes four miles west of Ann 

 Arbor, and that another was killed April 21, 1879, by C. H. IManley, in 

 Livingston county. The latter specimen is said to be mounted and now 

 in the possession of Capt. Manley. The first specimen was for a time in 



