328. 



WHITE-TAILED KITE 

 328. Elanus Icucnrus. 10 in. 



Head, underparts and tail, white: shoulders black: 

 upperparts gray. Young, with the back tinged with 

 rusty. Their food consists largely of snakes, but they 

 also eat a great many small rodents and insects. 



Nest. Made of sticks, weeds and leaves, and placed 

 in trees at quite an elevation from the ground; eggs 

 creamy white, profusely blotched with brown. 



Range. Texas to central California, and less often 

 east of the Miss. River, north to South Carolina. 



MISSISSIPPI KITE 

 329. Ictinia misMssippiensis. 14 in. 



Head, underparts and ends of secondaries, bluish- 

 gray. Lores and tail black: back dark; eyes red. 



Nest. Of sticks and weeds in the tops of tall trees; 

 eggs bluish white, usually unmarked, but occasionally 

 with a few brownish specks. (1.65x1.25). 



Range. Breeds north to South Carolina, southern 

 Illinois and Kansas; winters south of the United States. 



