20 Goss on the Srvalloiv-tailcd and Mississippi Kites. [January 



appeared and also joined in the circling flights. It was a beauti- 

 ful and, to me, exciting sight to watch their various motions and 

 coqueting evolutions, sailing high in the air, swooping clown with 

 partially closed wings, skimming along the prairie, lost for a 

 moment in the woods, ascending in spiral flights, gliding from 

 slow to swift and swift to slow without a flit or break, like 

 Swallows. For grace and symmetry of action I would rank 

 them first among the aerial birds, attaching the blue ribbon to the 

 Swallow-tailed. Unfortunately I was called away on the 8th and 

 did not return until the iSth. At first I thought the birds had 

 left, but I soon occasionally noticed one here and there flying low 

 down and often disappearing in the tree-tops. I lost no time, 

 but hastened, with glass and gun in hand, for the timber em- 

 braced in their former flights, and in a short time had the 

 pleasure of finding a pair of the Swallow-tailed Kites building a 

 nest in the top of a large hickory tree, the nest being about two- 

 thirds completed ; by cautiously approaching and lying down 

 behind a fallen tree I was enabled to watch them unobserved, 

 and, with the aid of the glass, to plainly see them at their work. 

 When either came to the nest alone with a stick it would place 

 it hurriedly upon the nest, but when both met at the nest 

 they would at once commence fussing about, pulling at the 

 sticks and trying to arrange the material, first one getting upon 

 the nest, and then the other, turning around as if trying to fit a 

 place for their bodies. I think at one time they must have 

 worked at least ten minutes trying to weave in or place in a sat- 

 isfactory manner a stripping from the inner bark of the cotton- 

 wood. As builders they are not a success. After a little over 

 two hours of watching I turned my attention to hunting for the 

 nests of others. In this I failed, but found near by, sitting on the 

 dead limb of an oak, a pair of Mississippi Kites, busily engaged 

 in dressing up their feathers. My anxiety to secure a pair for 

 my collection overcame the desire for their eggs, especially as the 

 birds are rare in the State and the finding of their nest doubtful ; 

 I believed I could get both by shooting one from the tree and the 

 other on the wing as it left ; so I carefully crawded to within easy 

 shooing distance, sprang to my feet, shot one, and to my sur- 

 prise the other did not fly, but with outstretched wings looked 

 down with astonishment at its mate fluttering upon the ground. 

 It was too good a shot to lose and I dropped it beside the other, 



