THE MISSISSIPPI KITE. 177 







62. Ictinia mississippiensis (WILSON). 



MISSISSIPPI KITE. 



Fcdco mississippiensis WILSON, American Ornithology, in, 1811, 80, PI. 25, Fig. 1. 

 Ictinia mississippiensis GRAY, Genera of Birds, i, 1845, 26. 



(B 36, C 335, R 4^8, C 491, U 329.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : More southern United States, east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, north regularly to Georgia, southern Illinois, Kansas, etc., casually or irregularly, 

 to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Iowa ; south throiigh eastern Mexico to Guatemala. 



The breeding range of the Mississippi Kite is confined to the southern 

 portions of the United States, from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas north- 

 ward to southern Illinois, the Indian Territory, and Kansas. It likewise 

 occurs in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, and probably 

 breeds more or less frequently in all these States. It is a casual summer 

 visitor in Iowa and Wisconsin, and is much more abundant west of the 

 Mississippi than east of this stream. A few winter in the Southern States. 



Mr. B. G. Gault writes me: "I found the Mississippi Kite abundant in 

 the Red River region of Texas, especially in that portion of it included 

 within Bowie County, where they can be seen at all times of the day ami 

 in all sorts of places; but for feeding grounds they seem to prefer the cot 

 ton fields. At King's plantation they were particularly abundant, and I have 

 seen as many as eight or ten in the air at one time. Although they do 

 not possess the swallow-like movements in so high a degree as their larger 

 and handsomer relative, the Elanoides forficatus, still they do indeed present 

 a pleasing sight, appearing now before us, perhaps 100 or 200 feet above 

 ground; the next minute they are skimming just above the tops of the 

 cotton plants or between the rows, and again they are high in the air, 

 seeming never to tire of these wing evolutions, and it is rarely that one is 

 seen to alight. 



"Occasionally, however, I have come suddenly upon them, perched 

 quietly on some dead or decaying tree, and have been greatly surprised at 

 their stupidity in allowing me to approach within 40 or 50 feet of them 

 before they would attempt to take wing. Owing to their numbers, one would 

 readily imagine it not a difficult task to discover the nest of this bird, but 

 in this, after repeated searches, I was badly disappointed. 



"July 2, 1888, I came upon a pair of these birds that could not be 

 induced to leave a particular locality on the edge of an old plantation. 

 Very evidently a nest or young were close at hand, but the most careful 

 search failed to reveal one or the other." 



The well known ornithologist, Col. N. S. Goss, found this species breed- 

 ing abundantly in Barber County, Kansas. He writes as follows: "While 

 collecting in this State I found, May 9, 1887, quite a number of the Missis- 

 sippi Kites sailing over and into the timber skirting the Medicine River, 

 26957 Bull. 1 12 



