FALCONIDJE — MILVIN^: KITES. 523 



mostly or eutiroly reticulate in small pattern (with few or no large transverse scutella). The 

 general organization is huteonine ; the scapular process of the coraeoid does not meet the 

 clavicle, the sei)tum nasi is incompletely ossified, and the anterior ridge of the palate is little 

 developed if at all ; the superciliary shield is in one or two pieces. The kites form a rather 

 extensive group of hawks of no great strength and less than average size, though very active, 

 generally of lithe and graceful shape, with long thin wings and often forked tail. They are 

 " ignoble " birds, subsisting upon small game, especially insects and reptiles. In Pernis 

 apivorus, the bee-eating hawMc of Europe, the whole head is densely and softly feathered to the 

 bill. The group is less homogeneous than the others here presented, and might be, perhaps, 

 dismembered, or merged in ButeoniruB. The genera assigned differ with nearly every writer 

 who recognizes the group at all. The type of the group is the genus Milvus, near which 

 stands our Elano'ides (fig. 366), and with which it may not be improper to associate Elanus, 

 Ictinia, and Rostrhamus. 



Analysis of Genera. 



Tail nearly as long as the wings, deeply forked ; head closely feathered Elano'ides 175 



Tail nearly or about even. 



Five outer primaries emarginate on inner webs ; bill and claws extremely slender . . Rostrhamus \12 



Two outer primaries emarginate ; tarsus scutellate in front Ictinia 173 



— entirely reticulate Elanus 174 



ROSTRHA'MUS. (Lat. rostrum, a beak ; hahius, a hook.) Sickle-billed Kites. Bill 

 extremely long and slender, the upper mandible hooked almost into a sickle-shape, the curva- 

 ture also impressed to some extent upon the under mandible ; cutting edges entirely without 

 tooth or lobe, Ijut simply curved like the culmen ; gonys straight. Cere contracted ; nostrils 

 narrowly oval, horizontal. Loral bristles slight. Space between bill and eye nearly naked 

 and colored, as if a continuation of the cere. Wings long ; 3d and 4th quills longest ; 5th 

 next ; 1 st shorter than 6th ; outer 5 emarginate on inner webs. Tail about half as long as the 

 wing, slightly emarginate or nearly even. Feet small ; tarsus feathered about i way down in 

 front, then scutellate, for the rest reticulate; middle toe and claw about as long as tarsus. 

 Tnuer toe without claw shorter than outer ditto ; inner toe and claw longer than ditto ; no evi- 

 dent webbing between either of them ; soles granular, but little tuberculate. Claws very long 

 and acute, but slender and comparatively little curved ; inner edge of the middle one dilated 

 and jagged. A genus marked by the extreme hooking of the slender bill, otherwise near 

 Elanus; containing two or three species of the wai-mer parts of America. 



K. socia'bilis plum'beus. (Lat. socidbilis, gregarious ; plumheus, lead-colored.) Ever- 

 GLAr>E Kite. Adult $ 9 : General color blackish-plumbeous, blackening on wings and tail. 

 Base f)f tail, with h)nger upper coverts and all under coverts w^hite, increasing in extent on the 

 tail from middle to lateral feathers ; tail iilso with a pale gray or whitish terminal zone. Bill 

 and claws black ; base of bill, cere and feet bright orange, drying dingy yellow ; iris red. 

 Length 16.00-18.00; extent about 44.00; wing 13.50-15-.50 ; tail 6.50-7.50; bill 0.90-1.00 ; 

 tarsus 1.75-2.25 ; middle toe without claw, rather less. Young birds are much varied with 

 brown, yellowish, and white, but the species is unmistakable in any plumage. Florida and 

 the West Indies ; said to be coinrnon in the " everglades," and to resemble the marsh hawk in 

 habits; nest in a bush, eggs commonly two, whitish, iiregularly spotted, blotched, or smirched 

 with brown, about 1.72 X 1-45. Compared with the S. Am. B. sociahiUs, the Florida bird 

 averages larger, lighter-colored, and weaker-billed. 



ICTI'NIA. (Gr. Iktivo^, iktinos, a kite. Fig. 367.) Lead Kites. Bill rather small, but 

 robust, very deep and wide for its length ; ti[) of upper mandible much overhanging, its cutting 

 edge very prominently lobed, sometimes almost toothed like a falcon's, sometimes irregularly 

 sinuate-serrate; the nick just in front of the lobe usually permitting the median ridge of the 

 palate to be visible from the side ; culmen very strongly arched in nearly a quadrant of a circle ; 



