MIS8ISSIPri KITE. 



Ictinia mississippiensis. 



DESCRIPTION. 



"General form shurt and compact. Bill short, tip emargin- 

 ated; wings long, pointed; tail rather short, emarginated; tarsi 

 short. 



"Adult.— Uppev parts of body dark lead color, nearly black 

 on rump; head and under parts cinereous, darkest on abdomen; 

 quills and tail brownish-black; * « * tips of secondaries 

 asliy-whitp; a longitudinal stripe on each web of primaries 

 chestnut rufous." (Length of male about 14 inches extent 

 about 3«; female a little larger.)— B. B. of N. A. 



Habitat. — Southern United States, southward from South 

 Carolina on the coast, and Wisconsin and Iowa in the interior 

 to Mexico. Rare straggler in Penns-ylvania. 



I have never met with it in this State. The only 

 specimen that has been talcen here, so far as 1 can 

 learn, was shot in September, 1892, in Cumberland 

 county. This specimen is in the museum of the renu 

 sylvania State College. 



FEEDS ON INSECTS. 



Dr. Fisher's examinations of the stomachs of this 

 Kite, show that it subsists like the Swallow-tailed 

 Kite, principally on grasshoppers, large beetles, katy- 

 dids, crickets, etc. It does not visit the poultry yard 

 and game birds or game mammals are never attacked 

 Iiy it. T.izards, small-sized snakes and frogs are some- 

 times preyed upon by this Kite when insect food is not 

 readily secured. 



Never having had the opportunity of studying (his 

 liird in life I take the following extracts from Dr. 

 Fisher's Bulletin: 



The Mississippi Kite, like the other .-American species, in- 

 habits the more southern parts of our territory. It is dis- 

 tributed fiom Guatemala north through eastern Mpyiou anJ 

 the soutl ern T^nited Slates east of the Reeky Mountains. 



