June, 1889.] 



AN^D OOLOGIST. 



83 



young gray squirrels with unopened eyes. 

 More than this we crossed a stream on a felled 

 tree, from the hollow of which had been 

 chopped out honey-bees and comb, and in 

 Lantern Hill Woods I saw go into a hole in a 

 huge chestnut, which we marked for future 

 reference, a Wood Drake, with plumage as 

 gorgeous as the Impeyan Pheasant on the 

 Easter hat of your church-going belle. 



As if to accentuate the close of this memor- 

 able Egg Sunday, so crowded with incident, 

 when we drove into town, a company of sevei-al 

 hundred Swifts, circling around St. Patrick's 

 church, seemed to say, "Please record our 

 1889 arrival on Easter Eve," and also kindly 

 note that the operations of nature go on unerr- 

 ingly whether we go to church or go a-hawking. 



J. M. W. 



Norwich , Conn. 



Nesting of the Swallow-tailed Kite 

 in Texas. 



On the twenty-fifth of April, 1888, my friend, 

 Mr. Thomas S. Gillin, and myself, with two 

 guides, started on an extended wagon trip 

 through the central^and southern counties of 

 Texas, which we finished on the fifteenth of 

 May, having traveled over four hundred miles, 

 and through some of the worst country and 

 hottest weather I ever experienced. 



On April 2()th, as we were riding through a 

 post-oak belt, we saw our first Swallow-tails. 

 First we saw an immense flock of Mississipjji 

 Kites coming down towards us from the north- 

 ward before what afterwards turned out to be a 

 heavy shower. Back of them, and in the middle 

 of the rain, came the Swallow-tails {Elanoides 

 fofjicatas) flying low over the tops of the trees. 

 They had the motions of the Night Hawk 

 {Chordeilea popetue), and although we were 

 in plain sight and had shot several Mississippi 

 Kites (Iftinia suhciBrulea), they did not appear 

 to notice us in the least. The Swallow-tails 

 seemed to follow a certain direction, darting- 

 down now and then to pick a lizard off a tree, 

 which they did with the greatest ease and dex- 

 terity; but the Mississippi Kites seemed un- 

 settled, and drifted back and forth from north 

 to south, or east to west, just as the wind 

 blew. 



From this we judged that the Swallow-tails 

 were returning to their nests and mates 

 from an expedition after food, and thought 

 that if we were to follow the general direction 

 they took we might find them breeding. 



We went on for about ten miles and came to 



a river lined on either side with immense 

 Cottonwood trees. Here we saw several Kites 

 sailing, darting and skimming along close to 

 the surface of the water. As I looked I 

 thought tliem the most graceful creatures I 

 had ever seen. From a great height they 

 would dart down like lightening to within, it 

 seemed to me, an inch of the water, and then, 

 turning over on one side, glide along like a 

 shadow for a short distance, then up again in 

 a beautiful curve, to repeat the same perfor- 

 mance. 



In their upward flight, I saw them several 

 times pick lizards from off the branches of 

 trees, with the utmost ease and without paus- 

 ing for an instant. When two met in the air, 

 which they often did, they compared notes in 

 their loud peculiar voice — a sort of a twitter- 

 ing scream. 



The beautiful river flowing swiftly along be- 

 tween its high banks; the magnificent trees, 

 festooned with Spanish moss; the brilliant 

 flowers; the solitude; and these lovely birds, 

 in their graceful gyrations; all combined to 

 make a perfect picture. How I wished for an 

 instantaneous camera! 



We stood for a long time taking in the 

 scene, not wishing to spoil it. But as it was 

 getting on in the afternoon we began to look 

 around for the nests. Further down the river 

 we at length found several, all situated in the 

 very tops of the highest cottonwoods. They 

 were very hard to find, for they were built so 

 Iiigh, and so vei-y cleverly concealed, that when 

 you did spy one, it looked more like a bunch of 

 moss than a nest. 



With the aid of our field glass, we at length 

 saw a bird sitting on one, and my friend Mr, 

 Gillin determined to climb to it. It can be 

 imagined what he had before him when I say 

 that the tree was six feet in diameter at the 

 base, the first branch was eighty feet from the 

 ground, and the nest over one hundred and 

 twenty-five feet up, on a branch about as thick 

 as a man's arm. But Mr. Gillin is an indefati- 

 gable climber, and had a good pair of irons, 

 and, after a great deal of hard work, reached 

 the nest to be rewarded with two beautiful 

 fresh eggs. The bird waited till he was within 

 a few feet of her before she left the nest. This 

 set of eggs measures 2.05x1.48, 2.00x1. .51, 

 and are marked as follows: First egg has a 

 white ground color, tinged with a very faint 

 shadow of yellow; the smaller end heavily 

 marked with large irregular blotches of chest- 

 nut or dark brown. The other egg is marked 

 heavier at the larger end with same colored 



