NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 165 



328. Elanus leucurus (Vieill.) [427.] 



White-tailed Kite. 



Hab. Southern portion of the United States, from South Carolina, Southern Illinois, and California, 

 southward into South America. 



The Black-shouldered or White-tailed Kite is distributed through- 

 out Southern United States from the Atlantic to Pacific, and southward 

 into tropical America. In the East it is found as far north as Southern 

 Illinois ; in the West as far north as Indian Territory and Middle Cali- 

 fornia. The flight of this bird is said to be easy and graceful, but not 

 rapid. Sometimes it stops for a few moments, descends with great 

 velocity to the ground to capture a lizard or snake. The nest of this 

 species, like that of the Swallow-tailed Kite, is always placed just as 

 high in the tree as possible. Prof. B. W. Evermann informs me that 

 of all the nests he examined he did not notice an exception in this 

 respect. It is not a very substantial structure, composed of sticks, 

 forming scarcely more than a mere platform, the cavity being quite 

 shallow ; it is very sparingly lined with the inner bark of the cotton- 

 wood, sometimes with straw. When robbed of a first set of eo-o-s 

 another is likely to be laid. Prof. Evermann states that the usual time 

 of nesting in the Santa Clara Valley is from April i to May i. Nests 

 of this Kite have been found in Southern Texas which were placed in 

 bushes only seven or eight feet from the ground- 

 Mr. Samuel C. Evans took six sets of the eggs of this species in 

 San Jose Valley between May i and 22, 1886 ; one of two eggs on 

 the ist was far advanced in incubation ; one of four on the 8th was 

 fresh ; another of two on the 19th was fresh ; two sets of two each, taken 

 on the 20th, in which incubation had begun, and on the 22d a set of five 

 fresh eggs was taken. The nests were placed in sycamores, oaks and 

 maple trees; one was situated forty feet from the ground, and the 

 heights of the others ranged about fifteen feet. Mr. Evans, in several 

 cases, placed small painted hen eggs in the Kites' nests, and the birds 

 did not detect the difference, but continued laying. The eggs are of a 

 dull, creamy-white, thickly blotched, dotted and tinged with deep 

 chestnut, in some almost completely covering the whole ground ; nearly 

 spherical ; four to six ; this is the number usually stated, but four is 

 almost invariably the number of eggs laid. A set of four eggs collected 

 by Prof. Evermann in the Santa Clara Valley, California, measure 1.64 

 XI. 27, 1.62x1.27, 1.69x1.27, 1.62x1.27. 



Mr. J. Parker Norris has two sets of eggs of this species in his 

 cabinet, both collected in California. One set, containing three eggs, 

 have the markings much lighter than the other set, which consists of 



