72 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



marshes, and these interesting birds will disappear permanently 

 from the North American fauna. On March 20, 1930, we visited 

 one of the localities in Brevard County, where the everglade kites 

 were still breeding in some vast marshes near the river. These 

 marshes were very difficult to explore, as the water was from knee 

 deep to waist deep; the vegetation was so thick and high that in 

 many places a man disappeared from sight while wading; and it 

 was infested with plenty of deadly moccasins. The deeper and more 

 open spaces were full of floating "lettuce" and "bonnets", with 

 yellow flowers in bloom; and among them were a few large white 

 pond lilies. There were many large and small clumps of sawgrass 

 and large areas of lower growth of Sagittaria and Pontederia; in 

 some places were patches of blue Iris in bloom and some extensive 

 tracts of cattails {Typha). There were large islands, small clumps, 

 and isolated bushes of myrtle and willow, a few scattered small 

 cypresses, and occasional tangles of morning-glory vines. Here 

 also we saw the usual Florida marsh birds, both gallinules, limpkins, 

 herons, white ibises, bitterns, grackles, and blackbirds. Such was 

 the setting in which we located five or six pairs of kites, but we 

 found only one empty nest. 



Courtship. — J. did not see anything at the above locality that I 

 thought was a courtship performance, but one of my companions 

 on that trip, John H. Baker, told me that he saw a group of three 

 kites soaring at a height of about 500 feet above the marsh; they 

 "were seen repeatedly folding their wings for sudden dips of short 

 duration, much as do kingfishers and terns when plunging." After 

 some 5 minutes spent in these evolutions they set their wings and 

 sailed away out of sight. Such behavior in March looked like part 

 of a courtship display, but it may have been caused by the presence 

 of two men in the marsh hunting for nests. Dr. Charles W. Town- 

 send (1927) witnessed a somewhat similar performance, which he 

 describes as follows: 



In the marshes of the upper waters of the St. John River, Florida, on March 

 4, 1926, I watched three of these birds flying together. Presently one departed 

 and the other two circled about, darting at each other from time to time. 

 Occasionally one would turn on its side and stretch out its legs as if to 

 grapple. After playing in this way for a short time, one of the Kites circled 

 upwards and, reaching a considerable elevation, dove swiftly downwards 

 with wings curved back, and then turned completely over, end to end. This 

 maneuver was repeated several times, the bird crying out at the same moment 

 in a bleating fashion very much like a sheep. 



Nesting. — While I was collecting near Miami, Fla., in 1903, a 

 guide brought me a set of three everglade kite eggs, together with 

 the parent bird, taken near there on April 28. He described the 

 nest as located 7 feet up in a solitary "custard apple tree" about 9 



