210 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



hind claw, 1.10, the toe, .90. Bill deep black; cere and naked lore bright orange-red; 

 feet deep orange-red. 



Young female (Cuba ; Dr. Gundlach, Coll. G. N. Lawrence). Prevailing color above 

 brownish-black, with a glaucous cast on the dorsal region ; tail deep black, with a faint 

 greenish-bronze reflection, with white and grayish base and tip, as in the adult. Each 

 feather of the upper parts rather broadly tipped with ochraceous-ruibus ; crown, occiput, 

 and auriculars streaked longitudinally with the same. Prevailing color of the head and 

 lower parts deep ochraceous, on the head forming a broad superciliary stripe from the 

 forehead back to the occiput; throat and cheeks streaked longitudinally with dusky; 

 crissum immaculate; other lower parts, including lining of the wing, thickly covered 

 with large transverse spots of brownish-black. Upper tail-coverts white, with a blackish 

 shaft-line ; tail with the basal third white anteriorly and brownish-ashy next the black, 

 and with a terminal band, about 1.00 wide, of brownish-ashy, passing mto white at the 

 tip. Under surface of primaries cream-color anterior to the emargination, towards the 

 ends grayish, with transverse spots of dusky. Wing-formula, 4,3 = 5-2-6-7,1. 

 Wing, 13.90; tail, 8.25; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.55. 



An older specimen in young plumage (11,755, Florida) differs as follows: The colors 

 generally are lighter, the ochraceous being more prevalent and lighter in tint; the throat 

 is immaculate, and the markings beneath more longitudinal. The secondaries and prima- 

 ries are broadly tipped with ochraceous. Wing, 14.00 ; tail, 7.20 ; tarsus, 1.95 ; middle 

 toe, 1.50. 



Hab. West Indies and Southern Florida. 



LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED. 



National Museum, 3 ; Coll. C. J. Maynard, 7 ; Philadelphia Academy, 2 ; Museum 

 Comp. Zool., 3; ColL R. Ridgway, 1. Total, 16. 



Habits. The Black Kite is a Central and South American species, well 

 known in that section, but having no other claim to be regarded as a bird of 

 North America than its presence in a restricted portion of Florida, where it 

 is, in the extreme southern section, not very uncommon, and wliere it is 

 also known to breed. It was first taken in that peninsula by Mr. Edward 

 Harris, and subsequently by Dr. Heermann. It was supposed by Mr. Har- 

 ris to breed in Florida, from his meeting with young birds ; and this suppo- 

 sition has been confirmed by Mr. Maynard, who has since found them nest- 

 ing, and procured their eggs. 



Mr. Salvin met with what he presumed to be this species in Central 

 America, ascribing the immense flights of Hawks seen by him in the month 

 of March, in the Pacific Coast region, migrating in a northwesterly direction, 

 to this Kite. The bird was well known to the Spaniards under the name of 

 Asacuani, — a term that has become proverbial for a person who is con- 

 stantly wandering from place to place. Mr. Leyland obtained a single 

 specimen of the Eostrhamus near the Lake of Peten. In the spring of 

 1870, Mr. Maynard met with several individuals of this species among the 

 Florida everglades. He first observed one on February 18, but was not 

 able to secure it. Visiting the same spot ten days later, with Mr. Henshaw, 

 three birds of this species were shot, and the nest of one was discovered. It 

 was at that time only partly completed, was small, flat, and composed of 



