BIRDS OF INDIANA. ; ; :; 



71. GENUS ICTINIA VIEJLLOT. 



*129. (329). Ictinia mississippiensis (WiLS.). 



Mississippi Kite. 



Adult. Tail, very slightly forked; head, neck and secondaries, ashy; 

 rest of plumage, dark plumbeous, blackish on lesser wing coverts; 

 primaries and upper tail coverts, marked with rufous chestnut; tail, 

 black. Immature. Head, neck and lower parts, white, spotted or 

 streaked with brown; tail, tipped with whitish, and below with nar- 

 row cross bands of white or grayish; upper parts, brownish -black, 

 marked with rufous or white. 



Length, 13.00-15.50; wing, 10.60-12.30; tail, 6.00-7.00. 



RANGE. Eastern North America, from Guatemala north to South 

 Carolina, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and Kansas. Casually 

 to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa. Breeds from Kansas and 

 southern Illinois southward. Winters south of United States. 



Nest, of sticks, twigs and leaves, lined with moss, in tops of tall 

 trees. Eggs, 2-3; white, bluish-white or greenish- white. 



Rare summer resident in the Lower Wabash Valley; accidental 

 visitor elsewhere. Mr. Robert Ridgway informs me that it is found 

 about the Cypress ponds of Knox County from May 15 to September. 

 He notes that it breeds. Mr. Chas. Dury writes me, a specimen of a 

 Mississippi Kite which was sent to him from Lafayette several years 

 ago, which he supposes was killed near that place. Prof. A. J. Cook 

 notes one specimen from Cass County, Mich. (Birds of Mich., p. 72). 

 In the southern part of Illinois it is not uncommon, locally (Ridgway, 

 Birds of 111., I, p. 449). This species is another of the Kites that be- 

 longs to the harmless class of raptorial birds. Its food is much the 

 same as last mentioned species. 



72. GENUS CIRCUS LICEPEDE. 



*130. (331). Circus hudsonius (LINN.). 



Marsh Hawk. 



Face encircled by a ruff of short, compact feathers, as in the Owls. 



Adult Male. Mostly of a uniform light bluish-gray, streaked with 

 white; tail, barred with six to eight bands, the one nearest the end 

 being broader and darker; tips of the wings, blackish. Female and 

 Immature. Dusky or rusty-brown, more or less streaked on head and 

 neck. The Marsh Hawk may be easily distinguished in any plumaerc 

 by the large white patch on the rump. 



