246 



THE MUSEUM. 



dance which caused the Indian to gaze 

 at him in speechless admiration. Billy 

 said that he found the two eggs placed 

 in a nest built in a bush. The next 

 day Tiger also brought me two eggs 

 from a nest which was built in a sim- 

 ilar situation. 



I think two eggs are the usual num- 

 ber laid by this bird, for in three in- 

 stances no more were found, and in 

 the last eggs the embyros were con- 

 siderably advanced. I also questioned 

 the Indians concerning it and they said 

 that two were all the birds ever laid. 

 The Everglade Kites appear to be very 

 irregular in the time of depositing their 

 eggs as may be seen from the preced- 

 ing account. This species is, unlike 

 most other Kite Hawks, very sociable 

 in its habits and I have frequently 

 seen six or eight specimens at one 

 time flying over the marshes in com- 

 pany or sitting together on the bushes. 

 In flight they resemble the common 

 Marsh Hawk and as they are unsus- 

 picious they may be approached quite 

 readily. 



I have remarked that the first Ever- 

 glade Kite I saw was carrying a round 

 object in its talons, and afterwards I 

 frequently saw others doing the same 

 thing. What these objects were was 

 explained upon dissecting the speci- 

 mens taken, for all their stomachs 

 contained the animal of a species of 

 fresh water shell. This shell {Piimiis 

 depress a of Say), which was only a 

 few years ago considered quite rare, 

 appears to be restricted to the fresh 

 waters of Florida where it abounds. 

 It is round in form, about two inches 

 in diameter and dark, glossy green in 

 color. I observed empty shells float- 

 ing on the waters of the Everglades 

 long before I had the slightest idea they 



were cleaned by the Kites, but after I 

 dissected the birds I searched around 

 the bushes where they roosted and 

 found the shells scattered around quite 

 abundantly. The Indians call it Shal- 

 ly-bung-kar. 



Shortly after our first visit to the 

 Everglades bunches of eggs about the 

 size of those of the Hummingbird be- 

 gan to appear on the stalks of the saw 

 grass. They increased in numbers 

 rapidly until there were millions of 

 them. I could not imagine what the)? 

 were until Tiger informed me that 

 they were Shal-ly-bung-kar sas-ta-kar 

 {Pomus deprcssa o.g'g). 



Although the Kites subsisted entire- 

 ly upon the animals contained in these 

 shells and appeared to find them read- 

 ily I never saw a single living speci- 

 men. I have however found them on 

 the Indian Hunting Grounds when 

 freshly killed by a fire which spread 

 over a dryer portion of the Glades. 



The talons of the Everglade Kite 

 are curved just enough to grasp the: 

 shell readily and its long, abruptly: 

 curved upper mandible is peculiarly 

 fitted for removing the animal and it is 

 not uncommon to find specimens of 

 the shell with a hole punched in the 

 side by this hook. 



I have never met with this bird ex- 

 cept in the marshes of the Everglades 

 where it resides throughout the year,, 

 but it also occurs in all the fresh water 

 marshes of middle and southern Flor- 

 ida. 



The eggs are rather oval in form„ 

 bluish t^ white in color,' spotted and 

 blotched irregularly with brown and 

 umber of varying shades. Dimensions 

 from" 1. 40x1. 55 to 1.55x1.76. 



