66 BRITISH BIRDS. 
ground. I examined the stomachs of all I shot (some ten or twelve), and 
found them to contain sometimes beetles, sometimes grasshoppers.” <A 
very interesting note on the Swallow-tailed Kite’s partiality for bees in 
Guatemala is recorded by Mr. R. Owen, in ‘The Ibis’ for 1860, p. 241: 
—« Proceeding on our journey, and passing over the brow of a hill which 
rose considerably above those surrounding us, we suddenly saw, on the 
slope beneath us, a large number of Swallow-tailed Kites, gliding back- 
wards and forwards through the air, directly over the road which we were 
pursuing. They were near the ground, many of them within ten or twelve 
yards of it, and numbered from 150 to twice that quantity. They were 
closely packed, not one straggling for a moment from the rest, and 
reminded one of our English Swifts as they congregate in flight round an 
old and lofty edifice. My companion was surprised, no less than myself, 
to find so many of these birds in company ; for, according to the experi- 
ence of the Coban hunters, they generally go in pairs, although three or 
four may be occasionally met with together. A few yards of precipitous 
descent brought us immediately under the birds, and into a swarm of bees 
upon which they were feeding. The swarm was slowly skirting the hill in 
compact order, its persecutors sweeping through and through it, with 
wings extended, and their scissor-like tails widely opened . . . . At 
times birds would pass within four or five yards of us, giving us time to 
observe their movements accurately. Every now and then the neck would 
be bent slowly and gracefully, bringing the head quite under the body, 
the beak continuing closed; at the same time the foot, with the talons 
contracted as if holding an object in its grasp, would be brought forward 
until it met the beak. This position was only sustamed a moment, during 
which the beak was seen to open; the head was then, with closed beak, 
raised again, and the foot thrown back. . . . The bees, so far as I 
could observe (for I could not catch one for examination), were about the 
size of our English hive-bee, but of a brilliant colour, between red and 
yellow.” 
Although the Swallow-tailed Kite is so abundant in certain localities, 
but little information has been published respecting its nidification. 
Audubon mentions that it pairs immediately on its arrival in its summer 
haunts, and that its courtship takes place in the air, where its fine powers 
of wing are displayed to even still greater perfection than usual. The 
same accomplished naturalist also states that the nest is usually placed 
amongst the topmost branches of the tallest trees, usually on the margin 
of a stream or pond, and that it resembles that of a Crow, being made of 
sticks intermixed with “ Spanish moss,” and lined with coarse grasses and 
feathers, and that the eggs are from four to six in number. Dresser, in the 
article previously referred to, on the birds of Southern Texas, mentions 
that he found the Swallow-tailed Kites very numerous on a creek near the 
