164 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



A. Singley, of Giddings, Lee county, Texas. This nest, as represented, 

 is placed in the top branches of a pecan tree ; it is composed of sticks 

 and pieces of green moss, some of the moss hanging over the sides, 

 giving it a beautiful appearance when seen from the ground. Out- 

 wardly it measures eighteen inches in diameter ; depth twelve inches. 

 Two eggs from this nest measure 1.77x1.43, 1.81x1.45. In other 

 localities the materials for the nest differ, no moss being used. Mr. 

 Singley states that the birds are very vicious while nesting ; he has 

 seen them attack and drive off Owls, Turkey Buzzards, Florida Red- 

 shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineahis alleni^ Black Vultures and Crows. 

 On April 25, 1885, while his collector, Mr. Theodore Thassler, was 

 climbing to the nest represented in the engraving, he was almost 

 knocked out of the tree by the birds ; and before he could secure the 

 eggs was compelled to kill the most pugnacious one, which proved to 

 be the male. Unlike the White-tailed Kite, when the nest is disturbed 

 the birds will desert it. 



Mr. J. Parker Norris was the first to notice the error in the 

 statement made by Audubon and subsequent ornithologists that 

 this species lays from four to six eggs. All early ornithological 

 writers have followed Audubon with this statement. Some of our best 

 field-workers have received reports, seemingly from good sources, to 

 the effect that as many as four and six eggs have been taken from a 

 single nest, but as far as I am aware none of these large sets have 

 made their appearance in any of the well-known, reliable collections. 

 Judging from the large amount of material at hand on the subject we 

 shall accept the facts in the results of observations made by recent 

 ornithologists, that the Swallow-tailed Kite deposits two and rarely 

 three eggs. Mr. Singley took seven sets in the season of 1887, and 

 was fortunate enough to find one containing three eggs, and a nest 

 with three young. The color of the eggs is white, greenish or yellow- 

 ish-white, spotted and blotched with brown and umber of varying 

 shades ; some are sparingly marked with specks of dark brown, in 

 others the spots are clustered about the large end. The markings are 

 often large and of a rich chestnut and mahogany color. A set of two 

 eggs in the collection of Mr. Norris measure 1.80x1.50, 1.88x1.48. 

 These were taken in Lavaca county, Texas, April 20, 1885, 



During a trip to Texas, in 1888, Mr. G. B. Benners and Mr. Thos. 

 Gillin collected six sets of eggs of this bird in that State. One set 

 contained three eggs, another only one, while the other four nests had 

 two eggs each. 



