GRACEFUL FLIGHT OF THE KITE 73 



spirals, like an expert skater "showing oil*." Its flight is in- 

 deed the poetry of motion in mid-air. 



Unfortunately, this beautiful bird is not of wide distri- 

 bution in the North, for its real home is in Ihe tropics. In 



Jl 



^#* 



SWALLOW TAILED KITE 



the United States it migrates in April northward into Town. 

 Minnesota, Illinois, southern Michigan and at rare intervals 

 farther east and west to the Carolinas and the plains. So far 

 as known, its food consists exclusively of small reptiles and 

 large insects. 



This bird fitly represents the whole group <>i Kates, of 

 which the White-Tailed Kite i> the Pacific coasl species. The 

 Mississippi Kite inhabits the Gulf slates, and the Everglade 

 Kile reaches OUT country only in Florida. 



