NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 199 



White-tailed Kite is distributed throughout Southern United States from the At- 

 lantic 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 California. 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. Tne nest of this species, like that of the Swal- 

 low-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 ex- 

 ception 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 

 yery sparingly lined with the inner bark of the cottonwood, sometimes with straw. 

 When robbed of a first set of eggs another is likely to be laid. Prof. Evermann 

 states that the usual time of nesting in the Santa Clara Valley is from April 1 to 

 May 1. 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 1 and 22, 1886; one of 

 two eggs on the 1st 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 lait. 

 A set of four eggs collected by Prof. Evermann in the Santa Clara Valley, California, 

 measure 1.64x1.27, 1.62x1.27, 1.69x1.27, 1.62x1.27. The average measurement of four- 

 teen eggs in Mr. Crandall's collection is 1.72x1.30. 



329. MISSISSIPPI KITE. Ictinia mississlppiensis (Wils.) Geog. Dist. 

 Southern United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, southward from South Caro- 

 lina on the coast, and casually or irregularly to Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin on the 

 interior; south to Mexico. 



The Mississippi Kite is a summer resident in the southern portion of the United 

 States. It is irregular in its distribution, and its occurrence in particular localities 

 is uncertain, often being found common in regions where it was formerly rare. It 

 is generally found in the same localities with the Swallow-tailed Kite, and, like 

 the latter species, its extremely beautiful flight is one of the bird's characteristics. 

 It often soars so high in the air as to be almost invisible. Like the Swallow-tail 

 species, its food consists of insects, small snakes and lizards. The nests of the 

 Mississippi Kite are built in the tops of gigantic pines, pin oaks, sycamores, cotton- 

 wood, elm, and lofty cypress trees. Mr. J. A. Singley has a nest which he took in 

 Lee county, Texas, which was placeu in the forks of a live oak twenty-two feet from 

 the ground. The foundation and sides of the nest is built entirely of small sticks, 

 the interior portion of small, green oak twigs in leaf, and. leaves of the mesquite 

 tree; the lining is of green moss, on top of which are placed green leaves of the 

 pecan tree. The outer diameter from the ends of the longest twigs is seventeen 

 inches, the most compact portion eleven inches; interior diameter five inches; outer 

 depth seven inches, inside one and a half inches. Mr. Singley states that the 



