NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 163 



On an island near Beaufort, South Carolina, Mr. Walter Hoxie 

 found the Black Vulture nesting under a dense growth of yucca. No 

 attempt was made at forming a nest, or even excavating a hollow. 

 The eggs are laid far in under the intertwining stems of the yucca and 

 in the semi-shadows were quite hard to be seen. Mr. Hoxie states that 

 the parent birds have the habit of always following the same path in 

 leaving and approaching the nesting place. By these paths, which 

 were often winding, he was able to discover the eggs.* Both sexes 

 assist in incubation and two eggs constitute the nest complement. Mr. 

 Hoxie never observed a bird sitting on a single egg, and so far as he 

 was able to determine the period of incubation is nearly thirty days ; 

 eggs were taken from May 2 to May 26. He states that Mr. Alfred 

 Cuthbert took a set of three eggs in 1884. 



The eggs are generally broadly elliptical-ovate in shape and simi- 

 lar in color to those of the Turkey Vulture bluish-white, blotched 

 and spotted with very dark brown and umber not so densely marked 

 as those of Cathartes aura; average size 3.10x2.04. 



Mr. Norris has a series of fourteen sets in his cabinet which show 

 very great variations in size and coloring. The ground color of the 

 eggs of this species is, however, generally of a bluish-white, and 

 this enables one to separate their eggs from those of C. aura. The 

 spots are also, as a rule, larger and bolder, though fewer in number 

 than on the eggs of C. aura. 



327. Elanoides forficatus (LINN.) [426.] 



Swallow-tailed Kite. 



Hab. Tropical and warm-temperate parts of continental America, north r egularly up the Mississippi 

 Valley to Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, etc. Casually east to Pennsylvania and southern New England. 



. This beautiful species, noted for its graceful and elegant flight, is 

 an abundant summer resident of the Southern United States as far 

 north as Virginia, occasionally straying to the Middle States, and regu- 

 larly far up the Mississippi Valley. Skins of this Kite are in my 

 collection which were taken in Ohio, August 22, 1878, and July 10, 

 1883. Previous to these records it has not been heard of in the State 

 since 1858. 



The favorite resorts of this bird are bottom woodlands near prairies 

 or fields. Its food consists of small reptiles and insects ; it is particu- 

 larly fond of small snakes and lizards, grasshoppers, crickets, and 

 various beetles. The nest of this Kite is built at the extremity of 

 small branches near the tops of the tallest trees. The one represented 

 in our illustration is taken from a sketch made on the spot by Mr. J. 



* Breeding Habits of the Black Vulture. By Walter Hoxie. Auk, III, pp. 245-247. 



