250 HISTORY OF THE 



GEXUS ICTINIA VIEILLOT. 



"Form Falcon-like; the neck short, wings long and pointed, the primaries and 

 rectrices strong and stiff, and the organization robust. Bill short and deep, the 

 commissure irregularly toothed and notched; gonys very convex, ascending 

 terminally; cere narrow; nostril very small, nearly circular; feet small but 

 robust; tarsus about equal to middle toe, with a distinct frontal series of broad 

 transverse scutellae; claws rather short, but strongly curved, slightly grooved 

 beneath, their edges sharp. Third quill longest; first of variable proportion 

 with the rest. Tail moderate, the feathers wide, broader terminally, and emar- 

 giuated." 



Ictinia mississippiensis ( WILS.). 



MISSISSIPPI KITE. 

 PLATE XV. 



Summer resident; quite common on the Medicine River and 

 its tributaries; rare in other portions of the State. Arrive by 

 the first of May; begin laying the last of May. 



B. 36. R. 428. C. 491. G. 198, 114. U. 329. 



HABITAT. Southern United States, east of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains; north to South Carolina, southern Illinois, Kansas, etc. ; 

 casually to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa; south through 

 eastern Mexico to Guatemala. 



SP. CHAR. "Adult male: Head, neck, secondaries and entire lower parts 

 plumbeous ash, becoming, by a gradual transition, lighter on the head and sec- 

 ondaries, where the shade is pale cinereous, the head anteriorly, and the tips of 

 the secondaries, being silver white. Lores and eyelids black. Rest of the 

 plumage dark plumbeous, approaching plumbeous black on the lesser wing 

 coverts, primaries and upper tail coverts, the tail being nearly pure black. Pri- 

 maries with an indistinct narrow concealed stripe of chestnut rufous on the 

 outer webs, and larger spots of the same on the inner webs; feathers of the 

 head, neck and lower parts abruptly pure white beneath the surface, this show- 

 ing in partially exposed spots on the pectoral region and crissum. Scapulars 

 also with large concealed white spots. Shafts of primaries and tail feathers 

 black on both sides. Adult female: Similar to the male, but head and seconda- 

 ries decidedly darker, hardly approaching light ash; scarcely any trace of 

 rufous on the primaries, none at all on outer webs; shafts of tail feathers white 

 on under side. Bill, cere, eyelids and interior of mouth deep black; iris deep 

 lake red; rictus orange red; tarsi and toes pinkish orange red; lower part of 

 tarsus and large scutellse of toes dusky. Immature male, transition plumage: 

 Similar to the adult female, but the white spots on basal portion of pectoral and 

 crissal feathers distinctly exposed; secondaries not lighter than the rest of the 

 wing. Tail feathers with angular white spots extending quite across the inner 

 webs, producing three distinct transverse bands when viewed from below. 

 Inner web of outer primary mostly white anterior to the emargination. Color 

 of bill, etc., as in the adult, but interior of mouth whitish, and the iris less pure 

 carmine. Young female, first plumage: Head, neck and lower parts white, 



