FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE I79 



1929, p. 158), which appears to be near the upper limits of the range. 



These kites, Hke the related Mississippi kite of the north, feed 

 mainly on insects. Orthoptera are favored items; beetles and occa- 

 sionally dragonflies are taken. In the latter part of the dry season 

 when cicadas are abundant they are picked off expertly while the 

 bird is on the wing, and often eaten while the hawk continues its 

 flight. They are said to eat lizards, but this I have not observed. 

 Small birds show no fear of these kites. 



Plumbeous kites are ready to nest when they arrive on their breeding 

 grounds and mate immediately. Those taken at this time have the 

 body encased in fat, this being true particularly of the females. They 

 spend much time on the wing, soaring gracefully, and at rest select 

 exposed perches, the open branches of the guarnmo (Cecropia) 

 being especially favored. In the air the long, pointed wings suggest 

 those of a falcon. They present a dark silhouette until the sun strikes 

 them at the proper angle, when the light-colored head sometimes ap- 

 pears almost white. The distinct notch in the tip of the tail may be 

 seen as they turn. 



The nest is a fair-sized structure of sticks deeply cupped, located 

 rather high in trees. Seven sets of one egg each of this species, pre- 

 sented to the U.S. National Museum by Col. L. R. Wolfe, collected 

 at Guanoco, Sucre, Venezuela, are dull white, with a very finely 

 granulated shell, without markings. They are broad oval to nearly 

 elliptical in form and measure as follows: 42.6-45.0x34.0-37.9 mm. 

 Eggs of these birds become much soiled as incubation proceeds which 

 may account for reports of those with distinct markings. 



The young at hatching are covered with white down. 



The closely allied Mississippi kite, Ictinia misisippiensis (Wilson), 

 which nests now from northeastern Kansas, Tennessee, and South 

 Carolina south to northern Texas, Louisiana, and northern Florida, 

 also is migrant but with a winter range as yet not clearly known. 

 It is recorded through eastern and southern Mexico and once in 

 eastern Guatemala. Aside from this, 3 specimens are reported 

 taken far to the south, December 14, 1944, and February 26, 1942, at 

 Colonia Nueva Italia, Villeta, southern Paraguay (Blake, Auk, 1949, 

 p. 82) and Mocovi, Chaco, northern Argentina, Jan. 6, 1904 (Eisen- 

 mann, Auk, 1963, p. 74). I have felt certain that some of the migrant 

 flocks I have seen on the Pacific side of Panama were the Mississippi 

 kite, but have not been able to substantiate this belief with specimens. 

 On April 14, 1949, while I was walking over an open savanna on the 

 western end of Cerro Carbunco, northwest of Chepo, a flock of 25 

 circled in ascending spirals barely beyond gun range. They rose 



