156 KITES. 



A. KITES. Milvidae. 



Birds of prey of varying sizes and forms but which usu- 

 ally capture living animals for food by swooping suddenly 

 upon them from above. 



a. Fork-tailed Kites. Elaiioides. 



Rather large birds with quite small bills which do not 

 have the upper mandible lobed ; tarsus short and nearly na- 

 ked; tail, long and deeply forked, fig. 190, 190*. Sexes sim- 

 ilar. 



Fig. 188*. Fig. 190*. Fig. 189*. 





1. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE, E. FOKFICATUS. 22.00; 

 black above ; head, neck, and lower parts, white. Breeds in 

 the U. S. from the Carolinas and Minn, southward, in May; 

 migrates southward in Oct. to winter in South America ; comes 

 north in April; casual in southern N. E. (Mass.). Flight, 

 swallow-like, very graceful and easy. Food, largely snakes 

 and other reptiles, which it catches by swooping downward 

 an d, grasping them with its claws, eats them as it flies. Nests, 

 placed in trees, eggs, 4 to 6, greenish-white spotted and 

 blotched with brown and umber, fig. 190. 



b. Prairie Kites. Ictinia. 



Compact birds with a short, broad bill, cutting edge of 

 upper mandible lobed : wings, long ; tail, but little emargin- 

 ate. Sexes, similar. 



1. MISSISSIPPI KITE, I. MISSI88IPPIEN8IS. 14.00; 

 head, neck, and beneath, bluish-ash; black above glossed 

 with greenish ; longitudinal stripe in each primary, showing 

 in flight, bright chestnut; a wing bar of whitish, fig. 189. 

 Southern U. S. from S. C. and casually fromPenn., Wis., and 

 Iowa southward. Winters in Guatemala. 



