38 Zhe Warbler 



plants of various kinds being quite prominent. These forests were adjoined 

 by a strip of post-oak woods, many of the trees being embellished with the 

 grayish-green, soft and long Usnea lichens, where Parula Warblers and 

 Green-crested Flycatchers were abundant. An extensive prairie, overgrown 

 with patches of Engelmann's opuntia and mesquit bushes border the post-oak 

 woods. In these bottom woods the Swallow-tailed Kite was very abundant, 

 ten or twelve pairs nesting within a radius of several miles. During the 

 nesting season the birds constantly emerged from the tree tops or the}' disap- 

 peared among them — a beautiful sight not easy to imagine. As they circle 

 in and out among the trees the flight is exceptionally graceful and attractive 

 and very swift. At such times they frequently utter their shrill and pierc- 

 ing call-notes, which sound somewhat like re-re-re-re. When hunting for 

 their prey they are usually seen alone. The flight is at such times much 

 lower and they constantly bend their head downward, scrutinizing closely 

 the ground over which they pass. Often they hover for awhile over a cer- 

 tain spot, keeping themselves almost motionless, then they suddenly swoop 

 down to the ground, seizing their victim — almost always a small snake or a 

 lizard — with their talons and rising again almost as suddenly. They never 

 retire to a tree with their prey like other Hawks, but they finish their meal 

 while on the wing. Raising their talons and bending their heads downward 

 they tear piece after piece,from the wriggling reptile. This I have often ob- 

 served in Texas as well as in Florida. I never have seen them catch birds 

 or small mammals. In fact the small birds are not at all uneasy in their 

 presence, and I have never seen the Martin or Kingbird attack them. This 

 seems to imply that they are not regarded as enemies by them. Besides 

 snakes and lizards, grasshoppers form a part of their favorite food. In Au- 

 gust and September, in company of their young, they are often seen flying 

 over cotton fields, where they feed on cotton worms and other insects. In 

 Florida Dr. C. Hart Merriam often saw these Kites dart down and pick a 

 wasps' nest from the under side of a leaf of some high palmetto and fly off 

 with it, devouring, while on the wing, the grubs it contained. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher, in his excellent book, " The Hawks and Owls of the 

 United States in their Relation to Agriculture," (Washington, Government 

 Printing Office, 1893), thus speaks of the food of our bird : " The principal 

 food of this Kite is small snakes, lizards, frogs, and various kinds of insects. 

 It never molests small mammals or birds. Among insects it is especially 

 fond of wasp larvae, grashoppers and dragon flies ; and the power to change 

 the direction of flight is most markedly shown in capturing the latter in- 

 sects, for in its efforts to secure them it is often necessary for it to turn al- 

 most completely over in its evolutions." My own observations as well as 

 those of all other ornithologists, who had an opportunity to observe these 

 birds, show that they are very beneficial, as they consume large numbers of 

 injurious insects. 



