NOIITH AMERICAN WHITE-TAILED KITE 57 



James Moffitt, took me there to investigate it. It was a low flat 

 island a mile or more square, mostly covered with long, thick grass, 

 quite marshy in places, but largely dry. It was partially surrounded 

 by a canal, which we navigated in a power boat. Extending along 

 the banks of this canal in a curving line was a row of tall eucalyptus 

 trees over a mile long. It was in these trees that the kites were 

 nesting. As we approached we saw a kite sitting in the top of a dead 

 tree, so we landed; and, after a short search, we saw what looked 

 like a nest about 40 feet up in the thick top of a eucalyptus. After 

 we had rapped the tree several times the kite flew off. It was a very 

 uncomfortable tree to climb, but I managed to reach the nest, which 

 was firmly lodged in the topmost crotch. I was surprised to find in 

 it four small young, recently hatched. The nest was well made of 

 small fine twigs, deeply hollowed, and profusely lined with dry 

 grass ; it was rather bulky and filled the crotch quite deeply. It had 

 probably been used in previous years, as these kites have often been 

 known to repair and use their old nests. Wishing to find a nest 

 more conveniently located for photography, we spent considerable 

 time hunting through the long row of eucalyptus trees; but, 

 although we located at least three other pairs of kites, we could not 

 find another nest. Although well hidden from below, the nests are 

 open from above and give the birds a good lookout ; the birds prob- 

 ably left the nests as they saw us coming. 



Another nest was shown to me by M. C. Badger on April 27, 

 1929. It was located in an extensive tract of small willows and 

 cottonwoods, mixed with a dense tangle of underbrush and vines, 

 growing over many dead or fallen trees and branches, all of which 

 covered a broad sandy plain along a river in Ventura County. The 

 nest was not over 15 feet from the ground, yet well hidden in a 

 thick mass of tangled vines in the top of a small dead willow. It 

 was a well-made nest of coarse sticks and fine twigs, deeply hollowed 

 and lined, in the bottom of the hollow only, with strips of inner 

 bark. It measured 21 inches over all, and the inner cavity was 

 about 7 inches in diameter; it held three eggs. One of the birds 

 was seen in the vicinity, but it did not come near the nest. As the 

 eggs were warm, she had probably slipped off when she heard us 

 coming through the thick brush. Another nest (pi. 17) that he 

 showed me was about 30 feet up in the topmost twigs of a small 

 willow in the middle of another extensive tract of willows, cotton- 

 woods, and thick underbrush. 



Eggs. — The eggs of the white-tailed kite are among the most 

 beautiful and richly colored of any of the hawks' eggs ; consequently 

 they are greatly in demand among oologists. The set usually con- 

 sists of four or five eggs, sometimes only three, and I have one record 



83561—37 5 



